Arranged
by Cassie Bones
Summary: Based off text post on Tumblr. Castle and Beckett AU arranged marriage. In a society without true romantic love, Kate Beckett has been betrothed to a man she has never met since her birth. Now, it is the time for them to meet and start the year-long engagement before being bound forever. Can she go through with it? Will she learn to love him in a way that does not exist? Rated M
1. Prologue

**Okay, so somebody on Tumblr brought up the "best three words" in fanfiction, what are arranged marriage AU (Is AU considered a word? Is it two words? Idk) and so I've decided that in addition to all my other stories, I am going to write this one. Be patient with me, though, as I already have a few other projects in progress. I promised myself that I wouldn't add any more, but oh well. Enjoy!**

**Arranged**

Prologue

Katherine Houghton Beckett grew up in a society without love. Well, okay, that's not exactly true. There _is _in fact such a thing as love. Like how a mother loves her child like no other in the world and how a child might love their favorite stuffed animal, which keeps them protected while they sleep. Or in the way two children might love each other like best friends, never to grow too old or too distant from each other. And, yes, there is the romantic love. Kate's seen it before; watching secret lovers share glances as they walk past each other on the street, brushing hands and giving each other soft, discreet smiles. Her own parents share such glimpses from time to time and she imagines that they might be…but then it's gone and she is back to believing it's all just a myth; something her mind made up. Real love does not exist.

Katherine—or Kate, as she is called—grew up in a society where love is only felt by family and friends, but _never _by a man and a woman—or a man and a man; a woman and a woman—towards one another. Romantic love is a thing in the past; it does not exist anymore.

Oh, but it used to. In the books Kate has read, ones written hundreds of years ago by authors long gone now, love was a very real thing. You fell in love with somebody either from your first glance or gradually, feeling a range of emotions flurry around inside your stomach and your heart, your thoughts consumed by only them, and vice versa. Falling in love was once the most magical feeling in the world.

Unless, of course, your fell in love alone. There were too many instances over the next hundred or so years in which one man or woman would fall head over heels for another man or woman and spend all their life in agony and heartache over them. And these instances became more and more common, where couples would no longer fall in love with each other, but with others who did not reciprocate their love and so; quite literally, humanity came to a screeching halt.

It was at this point that the powers that be decided to put an end to all the love nonsense. It was decreed, first in Europe, that love would no longer determine who one was meant to spend the rest of their lives with, that this emotion was too versatile to risk humanity ending and that spouses would be chosen in the old-fashioned way; Arranged Marriages.

The idea was thought to be ridiculous, at first, but after seeing the way the Europeans thrived on this new plan year after year, the rest of the world finally began to catch up. Of course, there were countries in which Arranged Marriage was already a traditional and used tactic, but the countries that followed it began to change the tradition, shaping and molding it to fit their societal constructs.

Now, today, on Kate's eighteenth birthday, she will meet the man whom her society and parents have chosen for her to marry. She will meet the man they chose eighteen years ago for her and Kate prays that he will be a good fit. And she hopes that he will inspire her the same sense of romantic love that she's read about in her books, the love that she sometimes thinks is a myth, but then, sometimes, she doesn't.

She prays for just a touch of magic in their meeting.

**So, what do you think? Let me know in your REVIEWS!**


	2. Chapter 1

**I got a lot of good feedback for this idea and so I've decided to continue it! Enjoy!**

Chapter One

Kate woke up with birds singing outside her window and butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Today was the day; the day that she would meet and learn the name of her life-long fiancé. Kate didn't know much about him except that he was chosen the day she was born by a random selection and that his chosen profession, should he succeed in it, was to be a writer. She'd been given a few of his stories. Gifts were often exchanged between the betrothed as a way of getting to know each other, but pictures and letters were forbidden. Kate knew only that he lived in Manhattan, like her, but he could be one of millions of men in this large city.

She hoped he was handsome, though she believed she would be okay if he weren't aesthetically pleasing since, by the look of his work, he was very intellectually stimulating. His stories entertained her to no end and she often found herself going back to them, again and again, wishing that she could make contact with him and get more. Now, she would be able to get as much as she wanted; she was going to meet him for lunch.

The butterflies seemed to increase the speed of their fluttering wings at this thought and Kate felt the sudden urge to get up and do something productive. She stood and began stretching, reaching down to touch her toes and loosen her muscles before walking to her bathroom to relieve herself and wash up for the day. She looked in the mirror and pulled her toothbrush out of its case, holding it under the toothpaste dispenser for a nice little glob of minty foam, smirking. It was amusing to think that, at one time, people thought that at this point in time, they would have flying cars and gadgets that would make travel lightning quick, when all they really had was a machine that could spit out toothpaste and cleaner water.

As well as a cancer-free world. In fact, many of the world's deadliest diseases had been cured over the last couple hundred years but that just means more had sprung up. Thankfully, they were not as deadly as cancer or AIDS, but they were still incurable and very bothersome for those that fell under their spell.

These were the things Kate thought about as she tried to distract herself from what the day ahead had planned for her. She would be meeting her future husband soon and within the next week they would be assigned a home to live in, one that would meet their agreed upon budget and needs and that would house them and their family. She was all set to move in already; all her bags were packed and belongings were boxed up. Her father had agreed to help her move everything in over the weekend and she would be finishing up her last year of school soon.

Everything was all set, except…Kate was still having doubts about this. She was about to move out of her home, leave the safety of her parents' roof a comforting arms for an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar man. Of course, she was allowed, like everybody else unhappy with their engagements, to reject her fiancé, and be sent back to live with her parents while a new spouse was chosen for him (usually a woman who had been left by their fiancé), but she would not be allowed to reapply for marriage. Reapplication was only for those who have been left or whose fiancé or spouse has become deceased. Saying no to the one first chosen for you was a surefire way to never be married, which, Kate supposed, was the reason so very few people over the age of eighteen were single.

She hoped that she and her betrothed would like each other enough to keep the engagement because she didn't want to be one of the very few women in their society that was looked down upon for choosing the single life.

Kate shook her head of those thoughts as she rinsed out her mouth, placing her toothbrush back in its holder. She turned towards the shower and reached in to turn the taps before changing her mind and making her way back into her bedroom, picking up her phone as she approached her bed.

The phone lit up at her touch and Kate pressed one of the buttons, sighing as a voice spoke to her.

"State your command," a gentle, woman's voice said to her; her own voice. One of the very few life-altering inventions of the last two centuries was the PA (Personal Assistant). Had had only had to record her own voice saying her own name and the device now responded to her with it; not like the old robotic models.

"Call Lanie," Beckett muttered to the phone and within seconds her friend's tired, bed rumpled face was showing up on the screen.

"Girl," she growled, "this better be important."

"It is," Kate insisted, "it's my eighteenth birthday today, Lane."

Lanie sighed and Kate could see the video shift as she sat up.

"I know," she replied. "You feelin' okay?"

Kate nodded. "Yeah, just…a little nervous, you know? A little fidgety, like I need to do something." Lanie groaned.

"I know what that means," she whined.

Kate chuckled. "What does it mean?" she asked, as if she didn't already know.

Lanie sighed. "It means I'm gettin' on my sweats and sneakers. Meet you in the park in twenty?"

"Done. You rock, Lanie."

"And don't you forget it! Oh, and Kate?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy birthday, girl!" Lanie smiled at her through the PA.

Kate chuckled. "Thanks, Lane; I'll see you soon."

"Bye," Lanie replied, turning off the video feed.

Kate smiled as she placed the PA on her bedside table and made her way over to her closet, taking out the only pair of sweatpants that had not been boxed up, a t-shirt, and her sports bra; all items that she kept from being packed for mornings like this. She dressed quickly and slipped on a pair of running shoes, before tying up her hair and grabbing her PA.

She slipped the small device into her pocket and exited her room, making her way down the hall into the kitchen where her parents were already sharing breakfast. Her father was reading the paper over a plate of bacon and eggs while her mother stood at the counter, pouring two cups of coffee. She looked up when her daughter entered.

"Katie!" she exclaimed, putting down the coffee pot and making her way over to her daughter, hugging her tightly. "Happy birthday, Baby!" she said, kissing her cheek. Kate blushed and hugged her mother back.

"Thanks, Mom," she mumbled. Johanna Beckett pulled back, cupping her daughters cheek.

"Oh, I can't believe how big my little girl's gotten! Soon you're gonna be moving in with your fiancé and starting a family of your own! Oh, Jim, can you believe how big Katie is?" She turned to her husband who grinned over his paper before folding it and standing up. He walked over to them and placed his arms around both of them, kissing Kate's forehead.

"No I can't," he said, smiling down at her. "They grow so fast, Jo; you better bring us back some grandchildren real soon."

"_Da-ad_!" Kate groaned, breaking out of his embrace. "1) I'm not leaving _today_, 2) It's not like I'm never going to see you guys again and 3) I might not even like this guy!"

"Oh trust me," Johanna said, grinning, "you'll like him." She winked at her daughter before going back to pouring coffee. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Kate shook her head. "No, thanks; Lanie and I are going for a run. I'll just grab something while I'm out. I'll see you both later!"

"Bye, Sweetheart," Jim said, sitting back in his seat, "have a nice jog and don't forget to be back here by noon! Your lunch meeting is at one-thirty!"

"I know, I know! I'll be here! Now, bye!" Kate said, slamming the door behind her.

The second she was gone, Johanna sighed, bringing the tray with their coffee and her breakfast over to the table. She served Jim his coffee before sitting down with her own. "How do you think she'll react?" she said, after a moment of silence.

"Oh, she's going to be pissed for sure," Jim said, taking a sip of his coffee, "but she's a pretty level-headed kid; she'll get over it."

Johanna sighed. "I sure hope so," she said, taking her own sip, trying to calm her own fluttering butterflies.

**So what do you think so far? Please REVIEW and let me know. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 2

**I'm so glad everybody likes this! Enjoy this next chapter!**

Chapter Two

It took Kate only five minutes to jog from her apartment to the park about three blocks away, the halfway point for her and Lanie. When she got there, Lanie was already stretching her legs on a bench, her short, curly hair pulled back in a tiny ponytail on the back of her head. She looked up just as Kate approached, shooting daggers at her with her eyes.

Kate barely opened her mouth to greet her friend before Lanie cut her off.

"Girl, you're lucky it's your birthday," she growled, narrowing her eyes at Kate's eye roll. "Don't you roll your eyes at me! I could be snuggled up in bed with my hot Latin fiancé, counting his abs, but instead I'm outside at this _ungodly_ hour, going running with _you_! You best not expect any more gifts from me!"

Kate chuckled and pulled her friend into a hug. Lanie didn't hug back but she also didn't pull away, allowing Kate's taller stature to wrap around her, affectionately. "Thank you, Lanie," she said, sweetly. "I love you."

"Yeah, you better," the shorter woman grumbled, pulling out of her embrace. "Now stretch and let's get to that run so I can go back to bed and you can go meet your own future boo."

Kate rolled her eyes again. "You know, I might not even—"

"Like him," Lanie finished, mimicking Kate's voice. "Yeah, yeah, I know, Girl. You always say that but I think you're wrong. I mean, I thought I would hate my own boy at first but now I have this hot, spicy booty in my bed every morning and I'm happier than I've ever been."

Kate smiled warmly at her as she stretched out her legs on the bench. "You mean you're in love?"

Lanie scoffed, rolling her eyes in a perfect imitation of Kate and shaking her head. "Girl, you know I don't believe in that myth."

"Love is _not _a myth, Lanie," Kate argued. "It's a real feeling; it used to be a pretty big thing in the world."

"Yeah, girl," Lanie sighed, "_used to_, as in past tense. True love hasn't been seen in over a hundred years! Now all we have is…attraction. _That's _what I share with Javi; not love."

"I think you're wrong," Kate said, reaching down to touch her toes, "I mean, look at my parents; they're definitely in love."

"No they're not," Lanie argued, "they're just used to each other; best friends and all that, just like every other couple. It's not love, girl."

Kate shrugged. "To each his own, I guess," she said, ending the argument. She really didn't want to get into it; she was already stressed enough. She lifted her arms above her head, stretching them out before cracking her neck and turning to Lanie. "Ready?"

"Girl, I've _been _ready!" Lanie said, before turning. "Race through the park?" she asked, getting into position.

"You know it," Kate responded, crouching next to her. "Loser pays for breakfast."

"Aww, but it's your birthday!" Lanie said in a faux-sympathetic voice.

"Which is why it'll be twice as sweet to win the race and have my best friend buy me breakfast."

Lanie scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with _that._ On your mark; get ready, get set…"

"Go!" Kate shouted, blasting forward, startling her friend who took only a second before she began running after her.

"YOU LOUSY CHEATER!"

Kate laughed as she ran down the path, passing street performers playing their drums or dancing on the grass. She could hear Lanie closing in on her—despite the fact that the woman had shorter legs than Kate, she was just as fast and faster, when she wanted to be.

Kate picked up her steps, running as fast as her legs would take her and grinning as she heard Lanie let out a frustrated grunt, looking over her shoulder for just a moment to see her friend falling behind once again. She laughed as Lanie gave her the finger, raising her arms in victory as she turned forward…just in time to run into something solid, knocking it over as she knocked herself on her ass, feeling the pain shoot up her spine and hearing Lanie burst out in breathless laughter somewhere behind her.

Kate's eyes were closed in pain but she could just make out a child's voice.

"Daddy! Daddy! You okay?" It was a little girl's voice and as Kate slowly opened her eyes, she saw a tiny little thing, no more than two feet tall, with fiery red hair in two messy, lopsided pigtails and shiny, crystal-blue eyes. She was looking worriedly at the man that Kate had apparently knocked to the ground, who was kneeling, facing away from her, his hands on the pavement. Kate's face reddened.

"Oh my God!" she said, scrambling to her feet. "I'm so, so sorry! Here, let me help you up!" She rushed around to the man's front, lending out her hand to him.

The man laughed, looking down at the ground and shaking his head. "Oh, it's fine," he assured her, before looking up, squinting up at her shadow against the morning sun. "I'm alright; really."

Kate's entire body stiffened the second he looked up at her. She knew this man; but from where?

She knew he didn't go to school with her; he looked a couple of years older and he already had a child. The little girl hovering next to him, worriedly, looked to be about two or three. But, still, his face was very familiar…

Did he live in her building? No. Her building was only about five stories and had about three apartments in each floor; Kate knew all of the tenants.

Besides, the clothes he was wearing—a dark blue polo that perfectly matched his eyes and nice, form-fitting jeans—looked much more expensive than anything anybody in her apartment would wear when out for a walk in the park. He was most likely part of the Tribeca scene; which was impressive for somebody his age.

Perhaps he was a self-made millionaire; an inventor or a celebrity of some kind…

Kate gasped, her eyes going wide as the man stood up, brushing himself off and assuring his little girl that he was okay. He picked her up and settled her on his hip before smiling at Kate.

That smile….

"You're Richard Castle!" Kate blurted out, her heart racing. "The writer!"

The man chuckled and nodded, scratching the back of his neck, bashfully. "You got me," he said, his voice deep and nervous, "and you can just call me Castle. But can we keep this quiet? You can't imagine the amount of people that have been following us all morning; we just lost the last of the paparazzi."

Kate nodded, dumbly, trying to find something to say. This was her favorite writer, after all; he'd written his first mystery book just a couple of years ago, right after his wife's death, dedicating it to his daughter, and it had become an instant hit.

Johanna had given it to Kate for her sixteenth birthday and Kate had immediately become a fan. Kate knew somewhere, in the back of her head, that she should apologize for knocking him over and disrupting his day out with his child, but she couldn't form the words.

Instead she blurted out with, "Can I have your autograph?"

Castle chuckled and nodded, not noticing the red hot blush that had spread over Kate's features. "You got something for me to sign?" he asked.

Kate frowned, shaking her head, her shoulders drooping as she cursed herself, internally for not bringing her backpack with her; it almost always had a copy of one of his books stashed at the bottom.

Castle chuckled again. "That's alright," he assured her, "I'm sure Alexis has something in her backpack; don't you, Pumpkin?"

Alexis nodded, animatedly, and Kate noticed for the first time that the girl had a very colorful Javier Hedgehog backpack strapped to her body. Castle placed Alexis on the ground and helped her take off the backpack, unzipping it for her and letting the little girl rummage around for a colored pencil and her coloring book. She looked through the book for a moment before stopping on a page and ripping it out, handing it up to her father and smiling shyly at Kate.

Castle looked down at the picture his daughter had chosen and chuckled, signing his name with the purple colored pencil, before handing it over to Kate. "I colored in the castle," he told her, proudly.

Kate chuckled as she surveyed the newly signed picture of Princess Maura standing in front of her Castle. "Did you also color Maura's dress?" she asked.

Castle shook his head. "Nope," he said, "that was all Alexis; she's quite the artist, you know."

Kate nodded, smiling down at the girl. "Indeed she is," she agreed, crouching down in front of the redhead, "so I think I should have your autograph, as well. What do you say?" She offered Alexis the picture and the little girl beamed up at her, grabbing the colored pencil from her father and allowing Kate to hold the picture, using the coloring book as a support, as she etched out her name in large, messy block letters. She finished off by underlining her name and gave the picture back to Kate.

"Thank you so much!" Kate gushed, beaming down at her. "I'll treasure this forever!" Alexis's face lit up as she smiled up at her.

"You're welcome," she said, sheepishly, before hiding her face in her father's leg. Castle's hand stroked her hair and he smiled at Kate, mouthing a thank you. Kate mouthed her own thank you back.

"It was nice meeting you," she said, putting out her hand, "but I have a race to win." She motioned over at Lanie, who was waiting patiently for her to finish.

"Oh, well," Castle said, grinning, "I wouldn't want to keep you from winning, then." He took the offered hand and Kate felt a tingle running from where their palms met up her spine, making her shiver slightly. She brushed it off as a slight November chill. "It was nice meeting you, Miss…?"

"Beckett," Kate responded, clearing her throat. "Kate Beckett."

Castle smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Kate."

Kate's smile widened. "Likewise, Castle."

"Maybe I'll see you around," Castle said as he let go of her hand. He said it almost hopefully. Kate smiled, blushing slightly as she began to back away, Lanie fast-walking past her.

"Perhaps," she said, before turning and picking up speed as Castle watched her go, smiling like a fool before his smile disappeared and he sighed, looking down at his little girl.

"Ready to finish our walk?" he asked.

Alexis nodded, shoving her coloring book and pencil back into her bag, before zipping it back up and allowing her father to settle it on her back. He grabbed her hand and they continued walking down the path, Castle checking his watch every once in a while as butterflies fluttered in his stomach.

It was almost time.

**REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 3

**I'm baaack! Thank you all for being so patient! Classes just ended so I am yours for the summer! Enjoy!**

Chapter Three

After their run, Kate and Lanie decided to grab breakfast at a nearby diner. Kate checked to make sure she had enough time first. It was just after ten, meaning she had about an hour to kill before she had to be back.

They were seated right away and each ordered a coffee and a bagel; cinnamon for Kate and onion for Lanie. Both had whipped cream and jelly. While they ate, they talked about school and Lanie's upcoming nuptials.

Lanie was five months older than Kate and was already in the middle of planning her own wedding with Javier Esposito, who was, coincidentally, a family friend of Kate's. It had pleased her to no end when she found out that Javi and Lanie were arranged to be married. In her opinion, they made a perfect couple. Javi could be a goof, sometimes, but he was very respectable of women and a closet romantic, though he didn't like to admit it. And Lanie was fun, gorgeous, intelligent, and cared a lot about the people close to her. She'd also been planning her perfect wedding since they were about six years old and it was decided that Kate would be her Maid of Honor. Kate had almost forgotten the promise until Lanie's eighteenth birthday, when she reminded her after meeting Javi for the first time. Kate accepted with the condition that Lanie would be her _Matron _of Honor, since she would be married before Kate. Lanie accepted and they began planning that night.

Now, Lanie had already reserved a caterer and arranged to have the ceremony at her grandfather's large estate in Westchester County. She just had to get her dress, decide on the bridesmaids' dresses, hire a minister, decide on flower arrangements, make out the invitations, find a flower girl, order a wedding cake, and decide whether she wants to wear a veil or a tiara. Kate promised to help her every step of the way, letting Lanie know that she would be on-call for the next seven months and Lanie returned the sentiment, telling Kate that she would like nothing better than to help her, and that they would plan the weddings together. Kate thanked her and they moved on to other subjects. One being Kate's excitement over meeting Richard Castle; her favorite writer.

Lanie laughed, shaking her head. "Girl, you got it _bad._ I hope your future husband don't mind that you have the hots for Richard Castle."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I do _not _have the 'hots' for Richard Castle, Lanie; I just like his books. They're _good_! And I'm sure an aspiring writer like my fiancé looks up to people like him! I mean, come on! He wrote his first book three years ago and he's already an A-list celebrity! _That's _talent!"

"Whatever you say, Girl," Lanie said, disbelievingly, looking at her watch. "Hey, I think we'd better go; I've gotta get back to my own man and you gotta go meet yours."

Kate looked down at her watch; it was a quarter past 11. "Oh, you're right. Okay, well I'll call you tonight, then; tell you how it went."

"Yeah, you better," Lanie responded, taking out her wallet and practically slapping Kate's hand away from the cash machine. "Nuh-uh, it's your birthday; _I'm _paying." Kate opened her mouth to argue but Lanie's death glare had her shutting it again.

"Thanks, Lane," she mumbled as Lanie swiped her debit card and punched in her code.

"Don't mention it, Honey," Lanie responded. The girls stood and walked out together. Once they got outside, Kate turned and hugged Lanie goodbye.

"I'll see you later," she said, as she began to walk towards her apartment.

"Bye," Lanie called back.

-LINE BREAK-

When Kate entered the apartment, her parents were speaking in hushed whispers to each other, which abruptly stopped when they spotted her and painted on fake smiles.

"Hi, Sweetheart!" Johanna greeted, going over to hug her daughter hello. Kate hugged back, somewhat stiffly, and accepted the kiss to her cheek, responding likewise.

"Hey, Mom," she said, warily, "Dad…what's going on? What were you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing, Sweetie," Johanna said before Jim could even open his mouth, "nothing you should be concerned about, anyhow. Now, why don't you go take a shower and start getting ready for lunch, okay? Go on now."

Kate pouted in further confusion but did as she was told, making her way to her bedroom, peering over her shoulder at her odd parents, before shutting her bedroom door.

Johanna and Jim each let out a sigh of relief, looking at each other with grimaces on their faces. "You think she suspects anything?" Johanna asked and Jim rolled his eyes.

"Of course she does, Jo!" he hissed. "Katie was exactly born yesterday! We have to tell her!"

"We can't!" Johanna insisted. "It's against the law; we can't say anything about him until they've met. You know that!"

Jim sighed, practically pouting. "But she's going to hate us for not telling her! And I've never lied to her, Johanna. Not about something as important as this."

Johanna nodded and reached over him, rubbing his back, soothingly. "I know, I know," she said, "but there's nothing we can do now. We'll just have to trust that she'll let us explain ourselves after the fact. Katie's a pretty level-headed kid, you know."

Jim nodded. "Yeah," he said, "I know, I just…I had keeping this from her."

"So do I, Sweetheart," Johanna replied, "so do I."

-LINE BREAK-

Kate stepped out of the shower and almost immediately into her closet, searching for the perfect thing to wear to her lunch, trying to decide whether she wanted to wear a dress or not. She definitely wanted to wear her heels, though; there was no debating that. Kate searched through the entirety of her closet, finding three dresses that would be suitable for a nice lunch, look good, and still cooperate with the slight chill of late fall. She laid them out on her bed and surveyed her choices.

They all fell just below the knee and were all fall colors. There was a red one, that was form-fitting and had loose sleeves that ended at her elbows, along with a modest V-neck; an orange one that transitioned into a golden yellow near the bottom, with material that swished around her legs and a loose turtle neck; and a dress the color of burnt sienna, styled to look as if it wrapped around her body with a black belt fashioned at her waist and an A-line skirt. This one was a halter top with another modest neckline that showed off her collarbone without revealing too much.

Kate chose the last one, pairing it with the locket her father gave her for her thirteenth birthday that looked like a book; she hoped her writer-fiancé would get it and maybe even laugh.

She finished the look off with knee-high black boots and a tan trench coat, styling her hair to hand in loose curls around her shoulders. She left her make-up light, only putting on some light lip-gloss, eyeliner, and a touch of blush, smiling at her reflection.

She was ready.

-LINE BREAK-

The taxi ride to the restaurant was uneventful. There was only some light traffic and the pedestrians were not as…clueless as Kate was used to. They made it to the restaurant in about twenty-five minutes.

And in the twenty-five minutes it took for the taxi to get to the restaurant, Kate thought about how odd her parents had been acting when she was getting ready to leave.

Kate had been on her way out of her room when she spotted the coloring book page Alexis Castle had given her, remembering what had happened on her run. She grinned, grabbing the paper and running her fingers over _his _autograph and the scribble of Alexis's own signature, before continuing on her way to the living room, where she caught her parents once again speaking in hushed tones to each other. And, again, their mouths clamped shut the second they spotted her, fake smiles blooming up on their faces.

Kate was about to ask what was going on when Johanna interrupted, asking her what she was holding. Kate was distracted at that moment, telling her parents all about her morning in the park and about meeting Richard Castle and his daughter. Johanna's smile had wavered slightly, but Jim's had disappeared altogether and had been replaced by a slightly panicky expression. Kate stopped in the middle of her tale to ask her father what was wrong and the smile went back up.

"Just something I ate didn't seem to agree with me," he deflected, standing up, "excuse me." He made his way to the bathroom, leaving a confused Kate behind with her overly-excited mother.

"Why don't we find a frame for that?" Johanna suggested, taking the piece of wrinkled paper from Kate's hands and going off to find an empty picture frame somewhere.

She found one quickly enough, a silver one that was a gift from Johanna's mother on her and Jim's last anniversary. It was nothing special, but it was the perfect size for the drawing. Johanna set the picture in the frame without saying a word and promised Kate that they would pack it with the rest of her things. Kate thanked her and once again asked if anything was going on that she should know about.

"I don't know what you mean," Johanna replied, "but you should probably get going now; you don't want to be late."

Kate tried to argue that it was still early but her mother pointed out that it was nearly one already and that if she wanted to make it in time; she should already be trying to get a taxi. Kate reluctantly agreed, kissing her mother goodbye and calling out her farewells to her father before heading out.

Her mother texted her halfway to the restaurant, letting her know that her fiancé would be wearing a black suit and a purple button down underneath. He would be sitting at the table with the pink orchid. Johanna had let his mother know what Kate was wearing so that he would recognize her. Kate thanked her mother before placing her PA in her coat pocket and settling in for the ride.

When she got to the restaurant-an old, underground bar called, 'The Old Haunt'-Kate was intrigued by the old-fashioned, speakeasy theme. There was a piano player in one corner and a large bar covering half the room, with a bartender wiping down the bar with a rag. The entire place was dedicated to the relatively short Temperance period of the early 1900's, hundreds of years ago. Everything was made of wood and there seemed to be a complete shortage of modern technology, which Kate found rather refreshing.

Her eyes scanned the bar, searching out pink orchids until, finally, she spotted it. The man's back was towards her giving Kate a few moments to relax and breathe before beginning on her way.

When she had approached the table, the man's back was still turned towards her, looking as something beneath the table. Kate cleared her throat, her breath disappearing as the man turned to face her, his blue eyes wide in shock.

Kate and the man just stared at each other, jaws hitting the floor, eyes wide in surprise. They barely even registered the little redhead poking her head out from underneath the table, clutching a fork in her hand, victoriously. The little girl noticed her at once and beamed.

"Hi, Kate!" Alexis exclaimed.

**How was that for exposition, huh? Please REVIEW! Thank you! **


	5. Chapter 4

**Update!**

Chapter Four

Kate just stood there, slack-jawed, staring at the man seated in front of her, his face just as full of surprise as hers, and the little girl beaming up at her. She couldn't believe it! Richard Castle—_the _Richard freaking Castle—was her fiancé? But, no…that wasn't right! He was at least three years older than her and he'd already been married! Her fiancé—her _real_ fiancé—was supposed to be _her _age; not three years older with a child!

"What are you doing here?" Kate blurted, blushing as soon as the words were out of her mouth; that was rude. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she said before Castle could even respond, "what I meant was: how is it possible that _you're _my fiancé? You've already been married, haven't you? And my fiancé is supposed to be the same age as me."

Castle sighed. "I guess they haven't told you the, have they?" he asked.

Kate furrowed her brows. "Who hasn't told me what?" she asked.

Castle sighed again and turned to Alexis, who was now seated next to him, in a booster seat, focused intently on a drawing she was making on a paper placemat. "Pumpkin," he said, sweetly, "I need to go talk to Kate for a minute, okay? But we'll be right over there if you need us. Just stay right here, alright?"

Alexis nodded, obediently, and Castle smiled, kissing her forehead. "That's my girl," he said, affectionately, before standing and leading Kate over to a couple of barstools just a few feet from the table, where they could keep careful watch over little Alexis.

"Your parents must not have told you what happened, huh?" he asked. Kate shook her head, feeling anger start to rise from within; what had her parents _not _told her? Castle cleared his throat before continuing. "A couple of years ago, my wife, Meredith, died while giving birth to Alexis. I was distraught for a while but after about six months, I reapplied for marriage. They didn't have anybody my own age available, so they asked if I would be okay waiting a couple of years for one of the younger women who'd lost their original fiancé. I said yes and, as it turns out, about the same time, a young man had been killed in a tragic car accident. He was fifteen and _he _was your original fiancée, Kate. I guess…I guess they never told you. I mean, I only know about him because of my application."

Kate shook her head. "No, they didn't. But that makes sense; I'm not supposed to know anything about my fiancé until my eighteenth birthday, so they could have changed him a hundred times and not have told me. Do you know his name?"

Castle nodded. "Josh Davidson. He was tall, dark, handsome, and he wanted to be a doctor. He was a good guy, Kate; I could never have competed with that."

Kate chuckled. "I dunno, Castle; I kind of like what you do. I mean, you wrote those stories you sent me, right?" Castle nodded. "They were pretty good." He grinned cockily and Kate laughed again, before glancing over at Alexis.

"So, how old is she?" she asked, motioning towards the little girl.

A soft smile appeared on Castle's face as he looked over at his daughter. "She'll be three years old right before Christmas," he said, before turning back to Kate, "but I could swear that kid has the mind of a ten-year old, she's so smart. She started talking at eight months old, you know. Her first word was 'subtext'…or something like it. I've already got her potty-trained _and _I'm teaching her how to read; she'll be ruler of the universe in no time."

Kate snorted, shaking her head. "Let's work on getting her to Preschool first, okay?"

Castle grinned. "So, you're okay with this?" he asked.

Kate nodded. "I'm fine with it; I mean, what can I say? I never met Josh Davidson, so I can't really miss him, and what's the harm in giving _this _a shot? _Especially_ when there's an adorable little girl thrown into the mix." She smiled at Alexis. "I don't see why we can't at least _try _to make this work."

Castle smiled. "I was really hoping you would say that," he said, almost bashfully.

Kate's eyes widened and she looked up at him, staring deep into those ocean-blue eyes. "You were?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, honestly, "I've been waiting almost three years for you."

Kate blushed, looking away, before she realized something. "Hey," she said, "you said that Alexis is almost three?" He nodded, confused. "But how…I mean you're three years older than I am, right?"

Castle nodded. "Almost four years, actually. And, um…Meredith got pregnant earlier than expected so Alexis was born only a couple of months after the wedding," he shrugged. "Oops."

Kate laughed, shaking her head, before making her way back towards the table, giving Alexis a small wave. The girl waved enthusiastically back. Castle just watched them interact for a moment before Kate's voice broke him from his trance.

"You coming, Castle?" she asked, lifting one brow. Castle nodded, shuffling towards them and taking his seat next to Alexis, smiling as he met Kate's eyes. She smiled back, before turning to the little girl to ask about her drawing.

-LINE BREAK-

They ate their meal—which was amazing, in Kate's opinion—and shared stories about their childhoods, and about Alexis's. Castle seemed much more intent on telling Kate all the cute little stories about infant Alexis than about his own youth, and often deflected questions about his father with humor, which temporarily distracted Kate at times but she continued to come back to, intent on getting an answer. They almost didn't notice when the shift changed and were only brought to light when the owner came over to their table and announced that it was nearly four o'clock and that they would need to start setting up for the dinner rush.

Castle apologized and immediately paid the bill, brushing off Kate's insistence to pay half. He told her that it was his treat due to all the confusion he'd caused, which Kate then insisted was not even his fault. Castle said that it didn't matter because he knew things that she didn't, but should have and so, because of that, he was going to pay the bill. Kate wanted to point out how much sense his argument _didn't_ make, but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. She let it go.

Castle offered to take her home and she accepted. Castle called for a town car and it arrived within minutes. He opened the door for her and Kate slid in, Alexis sliding in right next to her and laying her head on Kate's shoulder. Kate smiled down at her; the girl had taken a shine to Kate from the very beginning, always remaining in contact with her and smiling at her whenever possible. Kate had to admit that she'd taken to the toddler as well. Alexis was like a little ray of sunshine.

The entire ride back was spent in companionable silence, the newly betrothed sparing sidelong glances at each other the whole way to Kate's apartment. Alexis sat between them, completely oblivious to the looks they were casting to each other.

By the time they got back to Kate's, it was nearly five; the traffic had been much heavier than it had been earlier. Castle got out, pulling Alexis with him, and lending a hand to help Kate out. She thanked him and stood awkwardly on the sidewalk with him, trying to figure out what to say. Thankfully, Castle spoke first.

"Have you packed yet?" he asked. Kate nodded.

"Yeah," she replied, "I just have a few more things left. When are we moving to the new place?"

"Oh, well, not really new for us," Castle said, "but for you, I guess. We'll be living at my loft. We have a guest room if you'd be more comfortable with that until we become more comfortable with each other. Would you like me to come by this week and help you move?"

Kate nodded. "That would be nice, yeah," she agreed. "You can help my father and I think my friend's fiancé is coming by to help, as well. You'll like Javi; he's a pretty nice guy."

Castle nodded. "Can't wait," he said, blushing as he realized how silly that sounded. Kate chuckled.

"Me neither," she revealed, making Castle smile, goofily. She was about to turn to walk into her building when Castle stopped her.

"Wait," he said, reaching into his pocket, "I almost forgot." From his pocket he pulled out a tiny jewelry box and held it up for Kate to see. "I know we're not required to do this, but I'm sort of a traditionalist, so if you wouldn't mind indulging me a little bit?" Without waiting for her answer, Castle got down on one knee, making Kate's eyes widen and her lips part in surprise. "Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?"

Kate smiled, for some inexplicable reason feeling tears flood her eyes. She nodded, slowly, holding out her left hand. She knew that all engaged couples received rings; usually it would be the men who gave the women rings and then bought them for themselves. But she'd never witnessed a man performing an old-fashioned engagement. She'd never thought she would, but here it was, happening to her. She couldn't help getting a little…overexcited. After Castle slipped the ring onto her finger and stood up, Kate grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pulling him down to her, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss. Well, passionate once Castle began to respond; for a moment, he was as solid as a statue. But then he took Kate's lead and began to reciprocate, smiling into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss.

They probably would have kept going like that if it had not been for the tiny voice from below.

"Eew! Daddy and Kate kissing!" Alexis exclaimed, shutting her eyes.

Castle and Kate pulled back from each other, sharing a look before bursting into laughter. Castle let go of Kate, smiling down at his daughter, before looking back at Kate. "Oh, bless her heart," he said, "she's entered the kissing is gross faze." He turned back to Alexis, kneeling in front of her. "Yes, Pumpkin, kissing is _very _gross so you should _never _do it! Yuck!" he stuck his tongue out and Alexis and Kate giggled. Castle rose again, pulling Alexis with him, settling her on his hip, turning to Kate.

"I'll see you…tomorrow?" he asked, cautiously. Kate nodded, smiling.

"That sounds good," she said, "I have a _lot _of stuff to move."

Castle grinned. "Alright," he said, "I'll just drop Alexis off at my mother's and I'll be here in the morning. Say ten o'clock? I'll bring coffee."

Kate nodded. "Sounds good. See you then, Castle."

"Until tomorrow, Kate," Castle replied, taking a chance and leaning down to peck Kate on the lips. Castle was smiling widely when he pulled back. She was blushing as she started walking backwards towards the door to her apartment building, waving as she pushed open the door. Castle and Alexis waved back.

When she got into the elevator she practically fell back against the wall, smiling brightly and sighing.

"Richard. Freaking. _Castle_!" she whispered excitedly to herself, before remembering what her parents had been hiding for the last three years of her life. "Oh," she growled to herself, "I am going to _kill _them."

With that, she stomped the entire way from the elevator to her parents' apartment. They were going to get a piece of her mind, whether they liked it or not.

**So what do you guys think so far? Did you like the proposal? Let me know! REVIEW! Please…**


	6. Chapter 5

**New chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter Five

Both Jim and Johanna Beckett jumped as the door to their apartment slammed close behind their daughter. Jim looked over from where he was sitting, at the kitchen table, reviewing for his next court case, while Johanna rushed around the corner from the living room to see what all the commotion was about.

There, at the door, they saw their teenage daughter, her eyes alight with anger and her mouth pressed into a firm line, both fists planted firmly on her hips. Jim almost laughed; she reminded him of Johanna when she was cross about something. He kept his poker face on, however, not speaking, nor even daring to _breathe_. Johanna followed his example; they knew what was coming next.

"How," Kate hissed, "_could you_!?" Johanna flinched slightly, but righted herself as her daughter began her tirade. "How could you not _tell _me that I was reassigned? That my original fiancé was in a freaking car accident? You could at least have let me know that much so I could pay my respects; but _no!_ You _hid _it from me and I had to find out from my _new _fiancé! Do you realize how _messed up _that is? _He _shouldn't be the one to tell me these things! Not when we've only just met! How could you guys do this to me?"

Kate's voice had gone from shaking with anger, to soft with hurt, a couple of tears shining in her eyes as she realized how betrayed she felt by her parents, the two people who she was supposed to trust the most in this world. Johanna was the first to notice her tears and practically flew to her, wrapping her daughter in her arms, relief flooding her body when Kate didn't even try to push her away. Instead, she melted into her mother's embrace, allowing Johanna to stroke her hair and kiss her forehead.

"Oh, Katie," Johanna soothed, "we're so sorry, Baby, but you know we were not allowed to say anything about your fiancé; not a single thing. But, trust me; we would have if we could. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to tell you who he was and what he did—not that you would have believed me." Kate laughed at that and Johanna felt her heart lighten at that, before Kate pulled away, hitting her with a hard stare.

"I'm still angry," she informed Johanna, "at _both _of you," she turned her glare to her father, who seemed to shrink underneath the young woman's scrutiny, "but I understand. Just…no more secrets, okay?"

Johanna nodded, pulling her in for another hug. "No more secrets," she promised, kissing her forehead. When she pulled back, Kate was smiling, just slightly, her cheeks slightly damp; Johanna hadn't even realized that her tears had fallen. She rubbed them away with her thumbs, planting one more kiss on Kate's forehead before giving her a big smile. "So," she said, "did you like your surprise?"

A large, shy smile broke over Kate's face as she remembered the proposal and then the kiss that she and Castle had shared. She could feel her face heating up with the memory. She nodded. "It was…nice," she said, cryptically.

Johanna pouted. "Oh, come now! I just _know _you have a bigger reaction that _that_! I mean, you have all of his books, for goodness' sake!"

"Only because _you _bought them for me!" Kate defended. Johanna laughed, nodding.

"Well, that was supposed to be your hint," she said, winking at Kate. "Now, come on, tell me _everything_! I'll make some tea." She shuffled Kate off to the kitchen to sit with her father, who smile warmly at her. Kate attempted to give him the cold shoulder but she couldn't fight the smile that appeared when he gave her that over-dramatic pout he always gave her when she was angry with him. Kate giggled, gaining a smile from Jim.

As soon as the tea was done, Johanna served out three cups, sitting down at the table with her husband and child, placed two lumps of sugar in Kate's cup and her own, and turned to her daughter, expectantly. Kate chuckled and took a long sip of her tea before beginning, thoroughly annoying her mother.

"So, as you probably already know," she began, "we had dinner at this really old-fashioned bar; like _speakeasy _old-fashioned, Mom," she said, excitedly. "It was really amazing. There was even a piano player; not just some stupid computer playing the music for you. That was cool."

"And Richard Castle…?" Johanna prompted.

Kate shrugged, nonchalantly. "He was okay," she said, a sly grin on her lips as her mother's shocked expression.

"_Okay_?!" she exclaimed. "Katie, you've just had a date with your favorite author; a man whose name is practically synonymous with genius wherever you're concerned, and your meeting him and finding out that he's your fiancé was just _okay_?!"

Kate chuckled. "Alright," she said, "maybe it was a little _more _than just okay." She felt her face heat up at her mother's excited squeak and laughed as her mother leaned forward, motioning with her to say more. Kate rolled her eyes and continued. "He has a daughter, Alexis, and she is the cutest little girl I've ever seen."

Johanna smiled and nodded. "I've seen her," she said, "in the tabloids; she looks like her grandmother with all that red hair. Very cute."

Kate nodded. "And Castle talks nonstop about her," she said with a small smile, "like he couldn't be more proud of his little angel; it was adorable, Mom. You should have seen the way his face lit up…" Johanna smiled at her daughter, taking hold of her hand and squeezing. She was incredibly happy that her daughter liked her new fiancé; for a moment, she was afraid that Richard Castle would be the kind of celebrity who only spoke of himself. Clearly, she had been wrong and she was so grateful for that.

As Kate went on to describe her date with Castle, Johanna became more and more certain that their engagement was going to work out, especially when Kate brought up Castle's proposal.

"Oh, how _romantic_!" Johanna gasped, placing her hand to her heart. Kate smiled and nodded.

"I thought so," she said, blushing, "I even kissed him for it."

Jim was in the middle of sipping his tea, which he promptly choked on as soon as Kate said those words. Kate reached over and hit his back, trying to help him breathe.

"I'm okay," Jim choked out, "I'm alright. Just…I'm gonna go…over there." He picked up his cup and his case files, placed the former in the sink and made his way to his bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind him, Kate and Johanna burst into giggles.

"Okay," Johanna said, excitedly, grasping Kate's hand, "tell me more! Tell me more!"

-Line Break—

Kate woke up the next morning similarly to how she'd woken up the previous morning; with butterflies fluttering in her stomach and sunshine bathing her in a golden glow. She smiled, remembering the previous day, her date with Richard Castle, the proposal, kissing him, meeting him beforehand on her run with Lanie…

Kate's eyes widened in panic. "Lanie!" She'd promised to call her best friend after her date last night and had instead spent the entire night looking at the ring Castle had given her and looking over many of her favorite novels, two of which he'd signed. All of them had notes littering every single page, bent corners, and tattered, worn covers. She'd thumbed over the covers and reread her favorite chapters; those books had solidified her decision to become a homicide detective. They'd given her a future. Kate had read until she finally fell asleep, completely forgetting her promise to her friend.

Checking her PA on the end table, her suspicions were confirmed; Lanie had tried calling her until around one in the morning, when she'd supposedly given up. Kate grabbed the device and pressed 'call back' knowing that Lanie wouldn't care how early it was if it meant she got information about Kate's new beau.

Her call was answered on the second ring by a grumpy looking Hispanic man. "What you want?" he grumbled, his brown eyes only half-open. Kate chuckled.

"Good morning, Espo," she greeted, "you're looking well-rested. Where's Lanie?"

Javier Esposito sighed and turned over, nudging his fiancée. "Babe," he said, softly, "your crazy friend is calling at…_ay dios mio_…seven in the freaking morning."

Lanie moaned a little bit before taking the PA from him, snuggling into his chest as she addressed the camera with a half-hearted glare.

"Kate Beckett," she groaned, "I specifically remember you promising to call me _last night_; not at Good Lord in the morning. You better have a good excuse."

Kate beamed. "Oh, trust me," she said, "I do. You'll never _believe _who my fiancé is, Lane!"

Lanie sighed. "Who?" she asked.

"Guess!"

Lanie rolled her eyes. "I dunno, girl…Will Sorenson from Bio?"

"Nope."

"Uh…girl it's too early for this shit; just _tell me_!"

"Aw, come on, Lanie!"

"If you don't tell me right now, you're moving your boxes by yourself today!"

"Actually, Castle said he'd come by around ten to help," Kate said, absent-mindedly. She grinned the second she said his name, waiting for Lanie to catch on. Her friend was silent for a few moments until her eyes popped open and she sat bolt upright and screamed. Behind her, Javi covered his head with a pillow, making Kate chuckle.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Lanie practically screeched, before jumping out of her bed. Kate could see her moving quickly around their room. She placed the PA on a stand, presumably on their dresser and Kate could see Javier, naked from the waist up, sheets covering his legs and a pillow still covering his head. Lanie had completely disappeared from sight but Kate could still hear her yelling at her fiancé. "Get your ass up, Javi!" she yelled. "We're going to Kate's! Come on now!" Javier groaned but removed the pillow from atop his face and got up. Kate was relieved to see that he was, in fact, not naked and had on a pair of pajama pants. Javi shuffled around the bed, towards the PA, glaring at Kate.

"Thanks a lot," he growled. Kate smiled and gave him a cute little wave before he disconnected the call.

**REVIEWS!**


	7. Chapter 6

**New chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter Six

Lanie and Esposito were there within the half-hour. Kate could hear Lanie's rapid tapping on the front door and knew that her friend was restraining herself from knocking the door down with the full force of her body. Kate, meanwhile, was in the middle of brushing her teeth in her own bathroom. She spit out the foam in her mouth before calling out to her father to answer the door for her.

She had to suppress giggles when she heard her father's half-formed greeting, Lanie's, "Excuse me, Mr. Beckett!" and the clacking of her heels on the hallway floor, coming nearer and nearer. Kate rinsed out her mouth and toothbrush calmly at the woman's approach, just slipping it into the holder when her bathroom door burst open. Kate looked, nonchalantly, towards her dark-skinned and flustered best friend, one hand still on the knob.

"Don't you knock?" she asked, bored. Lanie's eye narrowed.

"Don't be cute with me, Girl," she growled. "You better start talking; _when, _exactly, were you going to tell me about Richard _Freaking _Castle being your fiancé?"

Kate shrugged. "I never said that," she said, cryptically, as she squeezed past Lanie, entering her room and sitting down on her bed, checking her PA for any new messages, glancing at her sputtering friend as she did so. Kate couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Lanie glowers.

"I'ma smack you!" she hissed, before dropping down on the bed. Kate laughed and leaned back, wondering where to start.

By the time she finished telling Lanie the story of her date, proposal, and kiss with Ricahrd Castle—for the _third_ time—it was already past nine AM and the shorter woman's squeals were getting on her nerves.

"Where's _your_ fiancé?" she asked. "I thought Javi was going to come with you."

"He did," Lanie said, nodding, "but I guess he decided to hang out with your mom and dad rather than listen in on our 'girl talk'." She rolled her eyes and Kate laughed, standing up and moving towards her closet.

"Well, all for the better, then," Kate said, "because we still have a few things to pack up and I'd rather Espo not know about my Tweety Bird pajamas."

Lanie barked out a laugh. "He would _never _let you live that one down! Hell, if I wasn't so blatantly aware that you could kick my ass with your pinkie, _I _would tease you about it! I mean, _damn_ girl! Tweety Bird is centuries old; can't you get any _modern _day cartoon characters on your PJ's?" Kate just laughed and shook her head, throwing the offending garments at her friend's head. Lanie grabbed them and tossed them into a nearby moving box. They continued like that for most of Kate's clothes until all that was left was a few dresses, covered by garment bags, and her shoe collection, which they began to stack, in their shoe boxes, into a much larger box. When that was all done, they stripped Kate's bed and placed all her sheets into a laundry basket, to be done at Kate's new home, along with many of the last week's clothes.

By the time every single thing in her room was stripped bare and all of Kate's belongings were boxed up, there was a knock at the door. Kate looked at the clock on her PA. It was a minute past ten. Kate smiled at Lanie and her friend smiled back, motioning for her to go answer the door. Kate did.

Jim was reaching for the knob when Kate approached, shooing him away. "I've got it, Dad," she said, and Jim nodded, going back to the table, where he seemed to have been playing poker with Javier. Kate turned to the mirror next to the door, making sure her hair looked decent, before taking a deep breath and opening the door, grinning as a bouquet of bright, pink Plumerias were shoved toward her. Kate grabbed the flowers, inhaling the sweet floral scent, before looking shyly up at the man who'd supplied them. "Thank you," she said, "they're lovely."

Castle grinned, proudly. "Alexis picked them out," he informed her, "they're for your mother, actually." Kate nodded, smiling as her mother came up behind her.

"Oh, that is so _sweet_!" Johanna gushed, taking the flowers out of her daughter's hands. "Thank you so much, Mr. Castle! I'll have to put these in some water." She rushed off to do so, leaving Kate standing there, shaking her head at her mother's antics.

"Sorry," she said, looking up at Castle, "my mother can be a little…energetic, sometimes."

Castle shook his head. "No worries," he said, "my mother is the same. Actually, she's probably _worse_." Kate laughed.

"Guess it's safe to say that they're going to be pretty good friends, then, huh?" Castle nodded, laughing and suddenly, Kate noticed the tray in his hand, with two coffee cups.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "You brought coffee!"

"As I said I would," Castle replied, handing her a cup marked with a 'K'. "Grande skin latte with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla."

Kate's eyes widened at that. "Whoa…how did you know?" she asked, taking the cup he offered into her own hands, inhaling the heavenly scent.

"You mentioned it, yesterday," he said, casually, "may I come in?" Kate nodded, stepping aside as she took a sip, practically moaning as the liquid gold slid down her throat.

"Oh my God, that's good!" she exclaimed. "_Where _did you get this?"

Castle grinned at her. "I know a guy," he joked, before turning back towards the room, smiling pleasantly at all the occupants. "Hello," he said, "it's nice to meet you all; I'm Kate's fiancé, Rick—"

"Castle!" Javi exclaimed, standing up and practically flying across the room to take the writer's hand in a hearty shake. "Javier Esposito; it's nice to meet you, Man! I'm a big fan of your books."

"Well that's always nice to hear," Castle responded, cordially, "and it's nice to meet you as well. Are you a friend of Kate's?"

Javi nodded. "Yeah, Kate and I go _way_ back; I'm also her friend, Lanie's, fiancé." At the mention of her name, Lanie stepped forward, pushing Javi aside and shaking Castle's hand, excitedly.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Castle," she squeaked. "I'm Kate's best friend, Lanie Parrish. You'll probably be seeing a lot of me."

"Ah, yes," Castle said, "I saw you yesterday, in the park, when Kate ran into me…literally." They shared a laugh at that. "Nice to meet you, Lanie," he said, squeezing her hand before letting go.

Jim was next, standing at about Castle's height. He gave Castle a strong handshake and introduced himself as Kate's father, with the obvious undertone of implied violence if he ever hurt his daughter. They shared a silent understanding, before Jim moved back to stand with Johanna, who was organizing the Plumerias into a vase.

He stood, awkwardly, in the middle of the room for a moment, looking around, sipping his coffee, until suddenly Esposito spoke up.

"Hey, you got _her _coffee, but you didn't get anything for the rest of us?" he said.

"Javi!" Lanie hissed, smacking his arm. Castle just laughed, though, glad that the silence had been broken.

"Sorry," he said, "but I only promised to serve her; you're going to have to find your own." Kate blushed as everybody else laughed. Castle smiled, kindly, at her. "So," he continued, "I hear we have some boxes to move?"

**REVIEWS! Also, if any reviewers have questions, could you please PM them to me. I don't have a lot of time to respond to reviews and I have had reviewers get angry with me about that, but I would rather PM with you if you have and questions you want to ask. Thank you!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Update! **

Chapter Seven

The moving process took less time than anyone had expected. Castle had rented a moving van and it only took each person a couple of trips to get all of Kate's belongings down and organized into it. Before long, Kate was hugging her parents goodbye, receiving smothering kisses from her mother and a bone-crushing hug from her father. Kate had to fight to roll her eyes, knowing that it must be killing them to see their only child growing up already.

"Geez, guys!" she said, pulling back after a prolonged, clinging hug from her mother. "I'll be back next week for Thanksgiving! And it's not like I'm moving out of state or anything; I'll be right across the park, just a dozen blocks away. You can come visit me whenever you want…except when I have school, okay?"

Johanna and Jim nodded, each giving her another kiss and hug before letting her go. Johanna fought back tears as she said another goodbye to her daughter and Jim couldn't even speak; he just gave her a watery smile and cupped her cheek, giving her one last kiss on the forehead before releasing her. Kate was fighting back her own tears as she joined Castle, Lanie, and Espo outside.

"You okay?" Castle asked her, seeing her forlorn expression. She forced a smile at him, nodding.

"I'll be fine," she said, "just…you know." Castle nodded in understanding, surprising both himself and Kate as he pulled her into his chest, giving her a comforting hug. Kate accepted it, gratefully.

When they pulled back, Lanie was beaming at them, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. Espo just looked annoyed. "So where do you live, Writer Boy?" he asked.

Castle gave him his address and his PA number in case they got turned around. "We'll meet you there and I'll order us some food," he said. "You guys have been working hard. Chinese okay?"

Espo grinned. "Sounds like a plan," he said, "thanks!"

Castle smiled, before opening the passenger side door and helping Kate up. She thanked him, taking the hand he offered to help her up, feeling a tingle run up her arm and down her spine at the contact, their shared kiss from last night flashing behind her eyes. Kate shook off the memory and let go of his hand, settling herself in her seat as Castle ran around to get into the driver's seat. Neither one of them spoke the entire ride.

Lanie and Esposito's cab made it to Castle's apartment on Broome Street before the moving van and they were chatting amicably with the doorman as the van pulled up. Or, at least, Espo was. Lanie was looking very bored next to him as the two debated over football teams. Her eyes brightened as Kate jumped down from her seat.

"Oh, thank the Lord!" she exclaimed, running to her friend. "I thought you two were _never_ going to get here!"

Kate laughed, hugging her friend. "Lanie, you couldn't have been here for longer than five minutes."

"Well, five minutes is a _long_ time to be standing nearby Javi when he's going over player stats; talking about bo-ring!" Lanie rolled her eyes and Kate laughed.

Meanwhile, Castle had gotten the attention of Javi and they were both working on pulling out the first few boxes of Kate's things. Kate pulled Lanie over to them so that they could help, each of them grabbing a box.

The doorman did his job as they entered the building, taking the elevator to the top floor where Castle's loft was located. In the elevator, Castle dropped his box, breathing heavily.

"What the hell is _in _there?!" he asked, looking at Kate. "That's heavy!"

Kate laughed, reading the caption on the box. "My shoes," she informed him," and brace yourself; that's only the first of _three_ full boxes." She held up three fingers, grinning.

Castle sighed. "We're gonna need a bigger closet," he said, noticing the way Kate blushed; she'd almost completely forgotten that she was meant to be sharing a bed with him now. This man that she'd just met but knew more about than she'd like to admit, having researched him after reading that very first book and finding out everything from his birthplace (Manhattan) to his favorite color (dark blue) from his fansites.

And now she had been given the chance to get to know him much better than she ever would have imagined, and she was going to be able to do it for the rest of their lives.

The thought both excited and terrified Kate, pausing her in her steps towards the loft as the others continued to make their way towards it. Lanie was the only one who noticed that she'd fallen behind and looked back to her friend.

"You okay, Kate?" she asked. Kate blinked, her eyes focusing on her friend's concerned expression. She smiled, nodding.

"Yeah," she lied, "I'm fine. I guess I just spaced out for a minute. But I'm okay, really."

"Okay," Lanie said, uncertainly, "if you're sure…" She kept shooting Kate wary glances over her shoulder as they continued on their way to the loft.

Once they got to his apartment, their eyes widened and their jaws hit the floor.

The loft was enormous; from the half-floor sitting room to the corner kitchen with separated from the main apartment only by a large island, and the long, elegant dining table. Kate could see a couple more doors to their right; one was smack-dab in the middle of a large see-through bookcase and the other was just a couple of feet further, wide-open to reveal what looked to be a large bedroom. And there was a staircase leading to what could only be the second floor of this humongous apartment. Castle and Esposito were standing in the foyer, still holding their boxes, both giving her questioning looks. It seemed that Castle had asked her a question and she'd missed it.

"I'm sorry," she said, "what did you ask?"

"Um," Castle said, looking bashful, "I asked if….if you wanted to set up your stuff in the guest room for now or if…if you wanted to just go ahead and put it all in the master bedroom; _my _bedroom."

Kate blushed, searching her mind for the answer, trying to find a polite way to let him know that, perhaps, she wasn't quite ready to share a bedroom with him yet, without embarrassing him in front of her friends.

"Oh, well, you said you don't have a lot of room in your closet for all my things, right?" she said, coming up with a solution, "so why don't we bring my things upstairs to the guest room for storage until we figure out what to do?" Her eyes pleaded silently for him to understand and, thankfully, he did.

Castle nodded and smiled. "That sounds good," he said, before motioning to Espo to follow him up the stairs. Kate let out a relieved breath, ignoring the amused look that Lanie sent her and following the boys up.

Her breath left her once again when they arrived at the guest room.

Castle had already had the larger than average room made up to accommodate the new arrival. The bed was made up with fresh sheets and a lavender-colored comforter, piled high with perfectly fluffed white pillows and the small room-sized closet was open and completely bare, except for a few shelves and bars for hanging clothes and shoes. Kate very nearly dropped the box of clothes she was caring at the sight. This room far outsized her old room at her parents' place. It even had its own bathroom! How this was not the master bedroom was beyond her.

Stepping further into the room, she placed her box on the floor at the end of the room, taking in the rest of the beautifully furnished room. On one wall was a long dresser with a large mirror overlooking the room, showing Kate her own astonished expression as well as the doors to both her new closet and her ensuite bathroom. Above the headboard of her bed, there was a large window overlooking Broome street and a small playground across the way, with curtains that matched her bedspread pulled back to let the light in.

Turning around, Kate saw that on either side of the door was a floor to ceiling bookshelf, completely barren and waiting for her to fill with her own collection. The room itself was a lighter-than-lavender color that was not quite white but still much lighter than anything Kate could give a name to. The floor was hardwood with a square light purple rug covering most of it. All in all, the room was classy and grown up and a little too impersonal for Kate's taste.

She would have to remedy that soon.

"So, do you like it?" Castle asked, nervously, setting down his own box as Esposito and Lanie did the same.

Kate smiled and nodded. "It's wonderful," she said, honestly, looking around, once more, at her new room. "I'm sure all my things will have a nice home here." Castle beamed at her.

"Well, then," he said, "we best go get the rest of it so they can appreciate their new space as well. Why don't you ladies stay here and unpack? We'll go get the rest of your stuff."

Kate nodded in agreement and Espo sighed, taking out his PA which just dinged. "Looks like Ryan's coming to help us, too," he announced.

Kevin Ryan was a mutual friend of both Kate and Javi. He was like a little brother to Kate and Javi's lifelong best friend. He would turn eighteen in three months and he was nervously counting down the days until he met his own fiancée. Kate thought it was sweet, but Espo thought it was a bit pathetic. Kate and Lanie often slapped him when he taunted Ryan for his nervousness. Kevin was a sweet boy—sweeter than most, in Kate's opinion—and had a sensitive side to him that he attributed to having all sisters growing up, therefore knowing how to properly treat a lady and how to show his feminine side. Kate hoped he would get paired with someone who could appreciate that about him.

"Okay," Kate said, "did you give him the address?"

"Yup," Javi responded, nodding, "he'll be here soon."

Kate nodded and they were off.

**Okay, next chapter will be up soon. REVIEWS!**


	9. Chapter 8

**It's hotter than hell in New York right now and my father refuses to put in the air conditioning because it wastes electricity and so I am dying here x_x. Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter Eight

Within the hour, all of Kate's belongings were piled in the guest room, Ryan having arrived shortly after they began to help speed things along. The second the last box was set down in Kate's new room, Castle had placed the order out for Chinese and he, along with Javi and Kevin, walked around the block to pick it up, leaving Kate and Lanie to finish putting things away. They had mostly finished with all the important possessions—i.e. her books, CDs, and shoes—and were just working on hanging up her art and wall hangings, constantly debating what should go where and what looked nicer in certain places. Many of Kate's photographs found their home on her dresser and bookshelf. Her clothes had more than enough space in the closet and large dresser. And her more personal possessions were hidden deep under her bed where only she would find them. The only thing left to find a place for now was the framed drawing that Castle and Alexis had autographed for her. Kate smiled at the most recent Disney princess, Maura, who preferred to be a Knight rather than the typical princess and who, in her own full-length feature, had been the first princess to fall in love and wed another princess. It took nearly three hundred years but they finally did it; Kate just wished Alexis had chosen one of the pictures with Maura in her Knight's armor, rather than the dress she was forced into in the beginning of the movie, but she supposed this one might have been the picture Alexis was most proud of, having worked on it with her father and colored completely in the lines. Kate found she really didn't mind, smiling as she thought of the girl's shy smile as she'd presented the piece of work.

Kate placed the picture on the wall next to her dresser's mirror, clearly visible from every corner of the room. She smiled at the mix of flashy and scraggly handwriting, remembering leaning in front of Alexis as she'd signed it. She prayed that the little girl would not mind having her as a stepmother—_if _she decided to go through with it. The very thought of marrying Castle still gave her chills and sent the butterflies in her stomach flapping. And when she thought about being a mother to Alexis, her head lightened until she needed to sit down.

Kate sunk down onto her plush new mattress as the reality of the situation suddenly struck her. She was going to be a wife and a mother; two things she had absolutely no idea how to do. She hadn't even be away from home more than a few hours now and already she wanted to go back and find safety in her parents' arms.

Lanie must have noticed this because the next thing Kate knew, she was being wrapped in the smaller woman's arms, her head pulled down to rest on her chest as she stroked her hair. "Relax, Girl," Lanie soothed, "it's okay; everything's going to be alright. I promise. Just take a deep breath and stop thinking so much." Kate nodded, wrapping her arms around her friend's waist, trying to take deep, even breaths to dispel her anxiety. Soon, she was able to lift herself back up, smiling in thanks at her friend, though her breathing was still a bit uneven. Lanie smiled back, letting Kate know with her eyes that she was there whenever she needed her.

Kate was thankful she had such an understanding friend. The girls sat there a while longer before standing up, surveying the newly personalized room, both agreeing that it looked fantastic and accurately fit Kate's personality. Lanie joked that she hoped Kate barely got to sleep in this room, away from her new, ruggedly handsome, fiancé. Kate blushed and told her to shut up.

Less than ten seconds later, they heard the door open downstairs and Castle shout, "Honey, I'm home!" in a theatric tone of voice. Kate looked at Lanie and rolled her eyes, grinning.

"We'll be right down!" she called back.

"You better hurry!" Castle shouted. "Cause I brought home a couple of strays and they seem pretty hungry; they might eat all your food before you get a chance!"

Kate's eyes widened at that; who had he brought home with him? She knew one of them must be Alexis, but who could the other, or others, be? There was only one way to find out.

With Lanie on her heels, Kate made her way out of the room, shutting her bedroom door as she went. They raced down the stairs, both of them starving and more than ready for lunch, pausing at the bottom when they saw the two redheads standing in the foyer, smiling up at them.

The shorter of the two, Alexis, beamed up at Kate and toddled over to her, smiling shyly up at her. Kate smiled right back, crouching down in front of her. "Hi, Alexis," she greeted, friendlily, "it's so nice to see you again!"

Alexis smiled, blushing slightly. "Hi," she said, bashfully.

Kate grinned, before opening her arms. "Can I have a hug?" she asked. Alexis nodded and practically fell into her arms, giggling as Kate tickled her sides, picking her up to rest on her hip. Alexis seemed to relax immediately into her embrace, wrapping her tiny arms around Kate's shoulders.

"Well," the older redhead said, smiling, "looks like Alexis has taken to you just splendidly." Kate blushed, smiling, and the woman stuck out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you," she said, "I'm Martha; Richard's mother."

Kate's eyes widened and she immediately reached out to take the older woman's hand. "It's so nice to meet you, Mrs. Castle," she said, "My name is Kate. Kate Beckett."

Martha nodded. "Yes," she said, "I know; I've heard so much about you from Richard." Kate's eyes widened and she looked over at Castle, who was standing nearby, pretending not to listen as he served out the plates of food. She saw him pause at his mother's statement, his eyes practically crawling around his skull to look at them without trying to seem too nosy. Kate wondered what he could have told his mother about the woman who he'd only known for a day.

"Oh, did he now?" Kate asked, figuring she might as well have fun and tease him a bit. "And what, exactly, did _Richard_ tell you about me?"

"All good things, Darling," Martha responded, laughing, "trust me; that boy doesn't have a single negative thing to say about you." Weirdly, that statement made Kate's heart jump in her chest and she felt a startling heat in her cheeks. Thankfully, Castle chose that moment to interrupt.

"So," he exclaimed, "who's hungry? I'm hungry! Are you hungry, Pumpkin?" he addressed his daughter, who was still perched on Kate's hip. Alexis nodded, enthusiastically. "Alright then," Castle boomed, "why don't you all have a seat then and we'll have some lunch, huh?"

Kate smiled at him and nodded, bringing Alexis over to the table and fastening her into the chair with a high seat strapped to it, unconsciously kissing the girl's forehead before she straightened and took the seat next to her. Castle saw this and smiled from where he spooned the food onto two plates, bringing the small one, with cut up noodles and chicken to Alexis's place and placing the bigger one in front of Kate, returning her thankful smile, before returning to the counter to make his and his mother's plates. Martha, meanwhile, took the seat on the other side of Alexis, receiving a glass of red wine from Ryan with thanks as the youngest of the friends doled out the drinks. He handed Kate a soda and she thanked him, opening it right up and taking a long, satisfying sip.

Once all the food and drinks were served, Castle finally took his seat—across from Kate—and they all dug into their lunch, sharing polite conversation as they ate. And, unbeknownst to both Kate and Rick—but not the rest of the group—the two newly-engaged kept glancing at each other and smiling throughout the entire meal.

**REVIEWS please!**


	10. Chapter 9

**I'm baaaackk. Okay, so I promised two days ago that I would post this and that was not a lie, but it sort of was because I am stupid and forgot to post this and now it's almost one in the morning and I'm tired and need sleep and here you go. Enjoy!**

Chapter Nine

When they'd finished with lunch, everybody got up to help clean up. Kate rounded up the dishes while Lanie got the glasses and Ryan and Esposito went to fetch rags to wipe down the table. Martha put away the leftovers and threw the empty food containers into the recycling. Castle went to clean off Alexis's face and hands at the sink, sitting her on the counter and wiping her down while simultaneously filling the sink with hot water and soap. Kate noticed this and thought about how strange this man was; always doing things the old-fashioned way. It was kind of…refreshing, to be honest, and Kate was already looking forward to learning how to do things the way he did them.

Lanie bumped her hip with her own, bringing Kate out of her thoughts and giving her a grin as she passed. Kate chuckled and stuck her tongue out at her, following her lead. The girls dumped the dishes into the sink, returning Castle's grateful smile as he picked up an old-fashioned sponge (where did he even _get _one of those?) and began to scrub off all the debris from their lunch. Lanie watched him do this with a raised brow.

"Wait, you're actually gonna do that _by hand_? Talk about your average cave man," she teased.

"Hey! I resent that! I actually think of myself as a Renaissance man. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" he quoted, regally.

Kate snorted. "That's Charles Dickens," Kate pointed out, "he didn't live during the Renaissance, Castle. Try Shakespeare."

Castle grinned at her. "Nice catch," he complimented, "are you some kind of history buff?"

Kate chuckled, shaking her head. "More like literature buff; I know my classic authors."

"And some of the newer ones, as well; right, Kate?" Lanie teased, nudging her. Kate rolled her eyes, trying to suppress her blush. Castle just grinned at them, before handing the dish he'd been working on to Alexis to dry. The little girl sat on the counter next to him, waiting patiently for dish after dish, being as silent as a mouse.

"She is so well-mannered," Lanie commented. "I wish my nieces and nephews turned out like that, but those kids are little demons."

Castle beamed proudly. "Why, thank you, Lanie!" he said, grinning down at his daughter. "Yeah, I don't know where she gets it from, but she is kind of a quiet kid; not at all like myself or her mother. Meredith was a bit eccentric. Don't get me wrong—she was fun. But not all too serious when it came to being an adult."

Kate shrugged. "She was only nineteen, Castle; sometimes it takes longer to grow up."

Castle sighed and nodded. "I just hope Alexis doesn't grow up too fast; I'd like to keep my little girl for a while before that happens."

"With a dad as goofy as you, I'm sure that will be no problem," Kate replied, smiling up at him, laughing as he gave her a boyish grin. They locked eyes for a moment and Kate could swear she felt her heart stop, something she'd never felt before, and felt herself leaning up when Lanie's voice broke through.

"Sweetie, watch you don't-oh no!" Kate looked up just in time to see the dish fall from Alexis's tiny hands and her heart clenched in fear as the china flew towards the ground, wincing as it got closer and closer, preparing herself for the inevitable impact which, shockingly, never came. Kate's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the dish hovering about three inches off the floor, not a single scratch on it. Castle reached down and plucked it up, smiling at Alexis as he examined it.

"Good job, Pumpkin!" he praised, putting the plate back up in the cupboard next to the sink. Alexis beamed proudly, receiving the next dish and beginning work on that, while Kate and Lanie gaped.

"How did…I mean, what…how…?" Kate stammered, looking at the sink full of dishes, all of which she assumed floated. Castle grinned at her.

"Cool, huh?" he said. "These dishes are damage-proof. There are little magnets all over them that repel the magnets I've had installed in the tiles and floorboard so that if anybody ever drops one, it won't break. I had it all done when Alexis was barely walking so that she would never have to feel bad about breaking a dish. It cost a full book advance but it's worth it, don't you think? And all of my dishes, bowls, and glasses are like this; even the wine glasses. Just in case my own hand slips, ya know?" Kate nodded in understanding.

"That sounds really smart, Castle, but why don't you just do what everybody else does and use dissolvable plates and glasses? They're good for the environment and they don't waste water. Plus, they're much more convenient, don't you think?" Kate offered.

Castle shrugged. "I have a water filter, so a lot of my water is recycled after it's been cleaned. Besides, I want to prepare Alexis in the event of an apocalypse. So just in case all of our fancy gadgets ever stop working (God forbid), we know how to live simply, just like our ancestors."

Kate smiled, thinking that that was probably the most logical (strange as it may be) reason for doing what he did. She had no more arguments and just busied herself with helping him wash dishes, ignoring Lanie's kissy faces and silent taunting. After a while, Lanie gave up and decided that it was probably time to leave the new couple alone. She said as much to Esposito and Ryan, who both agreed.

"We're gonna start heading out now, Kate," Lanie said, getting on her coat as Javi got his on.

"Yeah, we've got wedding stuff to go over and Kev's gotta finish his homework," he said, clapping his smaller friend on the back. Ryan nodded.

"We'll see you tomorrow in school, Kate. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Castle," Kevin said, politely, receiving a hug from his old friend. Kate kissed his cheek goodbye, smiling at her honorary little brother.

Castle wiped off his hand and shook the shorter man's hand. "It was nice to meet you, as well," he said, "and, please, Castle will do just fine." Kevin smiled and nodded, moving over to let Javi and Lanie say their goodbyes before they were all moving towards the door.

That left only the three of them and Martha in the apartment. But, soon, Martha was on her way out, as well. They were just finishing up the dishes when she announced her departure.

"I think your father might be coming home tonight so I better make myself presentable for his arrival," she said, kissing both her son and granddaughter goodbye, before pulling Kate in for a hug, "Goodbye, Katherine, darling," she said, "it was nice to meet you. I'll see you again on Thanksgiving, yes? Where are you going to have it this year?"

"Oh, well, we usually have it at my parents apartment with all of my friends and their parents, but we could have it here if you want?" she looked to Rick for his answer and he smiled at her.

"They're all welcome here if your parents would like to have it here. Either way, I am making my special Pumpkin Pie," Castle informed her.

Kate smiled. "I'll call Mom in the morning and see what she wants to do."

Martha smiled. "Sounds like a plan!" she exclaimed, before turning and sweeping dramatically out the door. "I'll see you later, kids! Au revoir!"

Kate chuckled. "Is she always that dramatic?" she asked.

Castle rolled his eyes. "You don't know the half of it," he replied, picking up Alexis from the counter and smiling as the little girl's head dropped to his shoulder, her eyes closing immediately. "She's an actress, so when I was younger, she was always dragging me to all her shows and all that and when she would drop me off at school, she'd either be dressed as one of her characters or practicing her part for a show, making all the other kids laugh. It was a _nightmare_."

"What about your dad?" Kate asked, realizing that he hadn't been brought up much during conversation.

"Dad's life is kind of private. We don't get to see him too much because of his job, but he's been as great as a dad could be when he was around. He would take me to ballgames on his days off and movies and to this magic shop when I was little. And we had this one book store that we used to go to together where he picked out my first book for me, _Casino Royale_."

"James Bond; not too shabby, Castle. That's a good one."

Castle beamed at her. "You've heard of it?"

"Oh, definitely," she said, "I have a copy of it in my room, actually. My dad got me it in Middle School and it pretty much sparked an obsession for spy novels that carried me through my awkward years."

"Same here; only my genre was Sci-fi, which turned to Mystery in high school. Sci-fi books always seemed to have mystery in them and so I started reading them without all the strange gadgets that don't even exist yet."

"That's because you're reading all the newer Sci-fi," Kate said, "try some of the older stuff; you'll laugh your ass off."

Castle chuckled, nodding. "I might just do that." He looked down at Alexis, who was now snoozing in his arms. "Like clockwork," he said, "she can never last thirty minutes after eating before falling asleep."

Kate chuckled. "You wanna go put her down for a nap and I'll finish cleaning up down here?"

Castle looked around. "There's not much left to clean," he said, "besides, you're going to have to get used to putting her down for her nap; sometimes I won't be here to do it, ya know?" Kate nodded, trying to ignore the implication of his words, and began following him up the stairs and into a large, purple-painted room with a full-sized princess canopy bed, covered in stuffed animals and pillows. He lay Alexis in the middle of it all and the little girl immediately latched on to a stuffed monkey, curling herself into a ball around the plush toy as Castle removed her shoes and covered her with a blanket, leaning down to kiss her head, softly.

Kate watched with a smile as he just stood there for a moment, watching him watch Alexis sleep, a smile lighting up his face, before finally turning towards the door and motioning for her to follow.

When they got to the door, he closed it, leaving it open only a crack and flicking a switch next to the door, which caused some heavy purple curtains to cover the windows, washing the room in a magenta-colored glow. Kate smiled, shaking her head; the little girl looked like a princess and she imagined that's what Castle saw when he looked at her.

"Is it always that easy to get her to sleep?" she asked Castle. He nodded.

"The hardest part," he said, "is walking away."

**REVIEWS! I might meet Nathan Fillion tomorrow (today, I guess) and I'm psyched! Also, I fixed that little typo in the last chapter where I changed Martha's gender (oops!) Good night!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Update! I didn't get to meet Nathan =(**

Chapter Ten

After leaving Alexis to her nap, Kate and Castle made their way downstairs, neither quite sure what they were going to do to pass the time. All of the leftovers had been put away and the dishes were all clean and back in their cupboards. And Kate's belongings had all been put away in her new room.

And now, with all of their friends gone and his daughter asleep, Rick and Kate were pretty much alone together, in need of something to do to pass the time. Kate glanced over at Castle as they walked down the stairs; he looked just as clueless as she as to what to do next, though he tried not to show it.

When they reached the bottom floor of the loft, Kate turned to Castle, giving him a friendly smile. "So," she said, "um, do you have any good movies?" She hoped the heat she could feel on her face was not present on her cheeks.

Castle grinned and nodded. "Mostly kids' stuff, but I have a few good classics, yeah."

"What kind of classics?" Kate asked.

"Hitchcock and Bellizzi stuff. You know…thriller. Oh, and some Joss Whedon; all of Joss Whedon, actually." Kate nodded.

"Nothing this century, huh?" she asked, grinning. Castle shrugged.

"I told you," he said, "I'm old-fashioned. Besides _everyone _loves a good classic."

"I guess so. Do you have any Bellizzi work that doesn't include Leonardo DiCaprio?"

"Do those even exist?"

Kate chuckled. "Honestly, I doubt it. It's just horrible the poor guy never won an Oscar for any of those films."

"Yeah…but, hey, now we have the Leos to look forward to every year."

"I guess so."

"So…Hitchcock, then?"

"Definitely."

"Good choice."

An hour later, they were seated on the couch, their eyes practically glued to the screen as Norman Bates went about moving the body of Marion Crane. Kate shivered, thinking about how many times she'd seen this movie and how it _still _gave her nightmares every time she saw it…but she just couldn't look away. Castle looked over at her, noticing her shiver, and offered her a blanket from the back of the couch, but Kate shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said, smiling thankfully at him, "just a little creeped out."

"I know what you mean," Castle said, "I mean, I've been writing stuff like this for years and it still astounds me to know that it's not all just fiction; shit like this happens for real out there. It's crazy."

Kate nodded in agreement, before shivering again.

"Okay," Castle said, "come here." He held out his arm to her and Kate's eyes widened.

"What?" she asked, startled.

Castle chuckled. "Relax," he said, "I'm not trying to cuddle just yet. I just want you to come closer so we can share the blanket."

"Wh-why?" Kate asked. "I told you, I'm not cold."

"Yeah, then why do you keep shivering, then?" Castle asked, lifting one brow. Kate blushed as she realized she didn't have the answer to that question, so she relented, moving closer to him on the couch until she was seated on the cushion next to him, still not touching.

Castle casually draped the deep red blanket over both of them, making sure that it covered Kate's body before covering himself with the other half, smiling at her once they were both covered up to their shoulders. Kate smiled back in thanks, before turning back to the television screen, not quite focusing on the storyline anymore. Suddenly, she found herself turning to Castle and caught him staring, unabashedly, at her.

"What?" she asked, startling the writer, who blinked his blue eyes in confusion.

"_What _what?" he asked, clearly unaware that he was doing anything unusual.

"Why are you staring at me?" Kate inquired, not quite annoyed.

"Was I?" Castle asked, looking genuinely surprised. "I had no idea. Sorry."

Kate's mouth quirked up in a smile. "It's fine, Castle," she said, "I know you were just dazzled by my enchanting good looks," she teased, fluttering her eyelashes at him, trying to lighten the mood.

Castle chuckled. "Oh, you have no idea," he flirted, causing Kate to visibly blush. Castle realized what he said and had the common courtesy to blush as well, still smiling, albeit a bit shyly. "Well, it's true," he said, "you are very…beautiful."

Kate cleared her throat. "Thank you, Castle," she replied, ducking her head.

Castle grinned, then suddenly blurted, "Do you want to play 20 Questions?"

Kate's eyes widened. "What?" she asked; she was most definitely not expecting him to ask that.

Castle cleared his throat. "Well," he said, "I was just thinking…despite being engaged, despite having had lunch with you yesterday and today, I still don't know much about you, you know? And likewise. You know more about my two-year-old daughter's short life than you know about me and I guess I thought that playing 20Q would…"

"Help us learn more about each other?" Kate finished for him in a questioning tone. Castle nodded.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "So, what do you think?"

Kate shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. You wanna go first?"

"No, no," Castle said, "ladies first, I insist." Kate rolled her eyes, grinning.

"Alright…what's your birthday?"

"April 1st, 2291; You?" Castle replied.

"Well, you already know the day, but the year is 2294. Your turn."

"Um…what's your favorite food?"

"Pizza," Kate answered, easily, "more specifically; sausage and pineapple pizza."

"Strange combination," Castle said, furrowing his eyebrows. Kate shrugged.

"Don't knock it til you try it. What about you? What's _your_ favorite food?"

"Pasta carbonara," Castle said, practically drooling, "it's so good. Have you ever had it?"

Kate chuckled, nodding. "My mom makes it on occasion; it's pretty good."

"You haven't tasted mine yet," Castle said, winking, "you'll love it so much you'll ask me to make it every night. Just wait and see."

Kate nodded. "I'll hold you to that," she said. "Now, what's your favorite color?"

Castle had to think about that for a moment before responding. "Red, but not like normal red; like…_blood _red."

"Well that's a bit morbid and somewhat creepy," Kate said, laughing. Castle shrugged.

"You expected anything less from a murder novelist?"

"Good point."

"So, what about you; what's _your_ favorite color?"

"Purple."

"That's it? Just _purple_?"

Kate shrugged. "I'm not biased; I love all purple equally."

"How very accepting of you," Castle teased, getting a raspberry from Kate. "And oh so mature," Castle teased further, making Kate pout. He chuckled and reached out, tucking her lower lip back into place before he realized what he was doing and recoiled, leaving Kate blushing, her eyes practically popping out of her head. "Sorry," Castle said, before coughing into his fist. "Um," he continued, "this may be kind of a personal question but…are you still…?" he tried to find the right word without coming right out there and saying it, but Kate understood.

"If the question you're asking is, am I still a virgin, then the answer is no, Castle; I'm not." She said it confidently and unashamed. Why should she be, anyway? It's not like she was the only person to ever lose their virginity before their pairing; it was a very common practice to…well, to _practice_ these sorts of things with a lover. It wasn't the 21st century, where this sort of thing would seem scandalous; it was no big deal.

Except to her own parents, of course. All parents liked to think that their children never had sex, no matter what century, and, likewise, their children liked to believe that they were dropped off by a stork and that was that.

Castle breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he said, "now I don't feel so bad about losing my own."

Kate laughed. "Castle, I kind of already knew you weren't a virgin."

Castle's eyes widened. "What? Did my mother tell you?"

Kate laughed, leaning her head on his shoulder, barely even realizing as she began to relax into their game. "Okay," she said, "next question; who was your first?"

Castle didn't even have to think about it before he answered. "Kyra Blaine," he said, wistfully. "We were about fifteen when we met and we became fast friends. Her parents were a little snooty but she was alright and she was pretty, so we sort of just decided that we would...well, you know. It lasted a couple of months before she moved away to France or something. Haven't seen her since. You?"

"Will Sorenson," Kate replied. "I was about sixteen, I think, and he was cute and available. We lasted six months before he moved to Boston. Your turn."

"What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" Castle asked, grinning.

Kate smiled, shaking her head. "I think it was probably running full force into this guy in the park when I was jogging…oh, wait! That was _you_!" she giggled and Castle snorted, remembering.

"That doesn't count," Castle said, "really now; what was your most embarrassing moment, _other _than that?"

"Uh…it might have been when I shoved a marble up my nose at age six and it got stuck there." A large grin spread over Castle's face as he tried not to laugh, and Kate slapped his chest as he couldn't hold back and let it all go, laughing like a lunatic at the thought of a little Kate Beckett with a marble sticking out of her nostril.

"It's not funny!" Kate said, unable to suppress her own chuckles. "I was teased for the rest of the school year and my parents were told to have me tested!" This bit of information just made Castle laugh harder, his body shaking with his mirth.

Kate glared at him. "Okay, so what's _your _most embarrassing moment then, Mr. Castle?" she practically growled. Castle sobered up slightly at the question, taking deep breaths before answering.

"Ahem, when I was about twelve years old, my mother made me join drama in my middle school and I was cast as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, which meant tights an frills in places no man should ever have frills. Anyway, one day I was getting out of dress rehearsal and I found that my clothes had been stolen, so I had to walk home in a full Shakespeare getup, through Manhattan, with classmates and strangers alike, calling out inaccurate Shakespeare lines at me; it was _mortifying_. Needless to say, after that play I never went back into drama."

Now it was Kate's turn to laugh, picturing Castle wearing the tights he'd described through the streets of New York City. "Aww," she said, "poor baby Castle!" She reached up and pinched his cheek, making him pout dramatically. Kate just laughed and shook her head.

"Whatever," he grumbled, "so what's your next question?"

They played the game for over the next hour, trading questions and stories that went along with their answers, allowing each other to really get to know one another. Castle learned that the first book she'd read was a classic, _To Kill a Mockingbird,_ and that it had sparked a love for reading from a very early age; especially books about law and justice, which explained why she had such a fond interest in _his _books, which often included both. Kate learned about Castle's odd relationship with his father; how he always tried to get Castle into sports but was still very supportive of his son's plans to write and his nerdy side, which often had him visiting old-fashioned comic book stores rather than ballgames, and how his father, Rick Sr., spent most of his time away on 'business trips' so their quality time was more precious to Castle than he could ever even begin to describe to Kate.

Finally, they noticed that the movie had ended without either one's knowledge and the sun had already set over New York, leaving them in the dark with just the glow from the TV shedding light on their faces.

"Wow," Kate said, suddenly, "it's starting to get late."

Castle nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, "I better get up and start making dinner; can you go check on Alexis?"

Kate nodded, moving to get up before blushing as she realized that she had practically crawled into Castle's lap as they spoke. She made a move to back off but her foot seemed to have made its way underneath Castle's leg and so she very nearly fell off the couch.

Thankfully, Castle caught her, winding his arm around her waist and pulling her up against him, a bit _too _roughly, making Kate gasp as their hips accidentally bumped against each other. Both sets of eyes widened as they locked gazes, neither able to look away from the other.

They stayed there for what felt like hours, him holding her around her waist and her holding onto his strong arms, their eyes never wavering from one another, until, suddenly, they heard a wailing from upstairs and Castle nearly dropped Kate, catching her at the last second and laying her gently down on the couch next to him. Kate jumped right up after that, unable to meet his gaze.

"Um, I think she may have woken up," she stammered, "I'll just go up an…um, yeah," and with that, she retreated quickly from the living room, leaving Castle looking over the back of the couch at her retreating form, before he lay his forehead on it, groaning.

Kate took the steps two at a time, wondering what the hell she had to feel embarrassed about; he was her _fiancé_! And it's not like she'd never had a lover before. Besides, they had kissed just the night before, so it wasn't like they had anything to be shy about. But why then, she asked herself, did she feel so…strange? Why did this one guy, who she was now living with her, invoke such a strange sense of terror as well as a feeling of familiarity in her at the same time; it was mystifying! Especially when the feelings caused her to bolt from the room at the first signs of intimacy.

Kate tried to shake off the thoughts as best she could as she made her way into Alexis's room, seeing the little girl sitting up in her bed, cheeks red and eyes puffy with tears. Alexis looked at her as she entered the room and immediately put her arms out for comfort. Kate smiled at her and scooped her up in her arms, bouncing her for a few moments as she whispered soothing words in her ears, rubbing a hand up and down her back as Alexis wrapped her arms around Kate's neck and held on tight.

Soon, Alexis was relaxed, only letting out the occasional hiccup, her head resting on Kate's shoulder as she smiled down at the little girl in her arms. "You feeling better now?" Kate asked. Alexis nodded against her. "Did you have a bad dream?" Alexis shook her head.

"Dark," she whimpered, her chin quivering slightly. Kate held her tighter, shushing her and stroking her hair.

"It's okay, Sweetie," she soothed, "it's not dark anymore. Everything's going to be alright. Okay?" Alexis nodded and Kate smiled, tipping the girl's chin up to meet her eyes. She wiped the tears off the girl's dimpled cheeks, smiling as she hiccupped. "Now how about he go get you washed up for dinner; do you need to go potty?" Alexis nodded. "Well, then, let's go," Kate said, carrying her towards her own bedroom to use the bathroom.

Once they were out and Alexis's face was all washed clean of tears, Kate carried her downstairs, where she saw Castle at the stove in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot on the stove, all the lights having been turned on and the TV shut off.

"Hey," she greeted, "look who woke up."

Castle turned and beamed at his little girl, settled comfortably against his fiancé's hip. "Hey, Pumpkin," he said, leaning down to kiss the girl's chubby cheek. "Did you have a nice nap?" Alexis nodded, smiling. "That's nice. Do you want to go play now?" Alexis nodded again. "Use your words, Alexis," Castle said.

"Yes," Alexis said, before adding a quick, "please," and smiling brightly. Castle chuckled.

"Okay, Pumpkin," he said, before turning to Kate. "I have a play corner set in the living room for her, just put her in and close the gate; she should be fine." Kate nodded and made her way into the living room, easily locating the large section of the room, separated by a knee-height safety gate. Kate placed Alexis down in it and the little girl immediately ran towards a dollhouse, dropping to her bottom to start playing, immediately losing herself in the game of make-believe. Kate smiled at her, remembering those innocent days, before making her way back to the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" she asked as she entered the kitchen area. Castle smiled over his shoulder at her.

"Yeah," he said, "could you make the salad? I'm just boiling up some pasta so I can sauté it with garlic and broccoli."

"And you say _my_ food taste is strange," she teased as she went to the fridge to gather the needed materials for a garden salad.

"Oh," Castle said, "and one more thing I forgot," Castle said, as she'd already gathered everything in her arms.

Kate turned to look back at him. "What's tha—"

She was cut off as Castle's lips descended on hers, causing her to drop everything in her arms in shock.

**REVIEWS! Please and thank you!**


	12. Chapter 11

**I think I've kept you waiting long enough ;-D**

Chapter Eleven

Kate was shocked, to say the very least. The tomatoes, cucumber, and lettuce all feel from her arms the second Castle's lips touched hers, the surprising spark and warmth emanating from his skin making her heart race as her hands instinctively rose to press against his sternum. For a moment, Castle thought that she was trying to push him away and so he began moving back, but then he felt her fists clench his shirt and felt her moan reverberating against his lips and felt himself being pulled hard against her.

Castle wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling their bodies even closer together, feeling her respond enthusiastically to his kiss, her tongue running against his top lip just before she nibbled on his bottom one, causing him to gasp. She took advantage of this and entered his mouth with her tongue, moaning low in her throat as she melted against him, their tongues dueling for dominance.

Soon enough, however, Castle felt himself begin to get lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, but he couldn't care less, because the way her lips felt against his was way more enticing than the need to breathe. Finally, however, he felt as if he would pass out and knew that he would need to separate from her in order to keep that from happening. He waited until the last possible second to lift his lips off hers with a resounding pop, breathing heavily as he rested his head on her shoulder, laying tiny kisses on any skin he could reach there. Kate's entire body moved with her own breaths beneath him, her hands absently stroking the back of his neck and his scalp as she, too, caught her breath.

"Wow," Beckett sighed, her breath fanning Castle's hair, making him shiver slightly, "that was…"

"Amazing? Magical? Mystifying?" Castle joked, cockily. Kate chuckled.

"Unexpected," she said, taking a deep breath, "where did _that _come from?"

Castle straightened up, smiling as Kate's hands remained where they were, his own arms still wrapped around her waist. "I just thought we needed something to break the ice," he said.

"And you thought attacking me was the best way to do that?"

"I didn't hear you complaining," Castle retorted, making Kate blush. She looked down, her hands beginning to slip away, but Castle caught one, keeping it in place over his shoulder, and tipped her chin up with one finger. "Hey," he said, softly, "you're okay with this, right? It's not moving too fast for you? Because if it is…"

Kate smiled at him before reaching up and laying another sweet kiss on his lips. "It's fine, Castle. That was a pretty good ice-breaker. I just…it caught me a little off-guard, ya know? Just give a girl a little warning next time. Okay?"

Castle smiled, nodded. "Sounds fair…Kate?"

"Yeah, Castle?" Kate asked, grinning.

"I'm going to kiss you again."

She sighed, trying to suppress her grin. "If you must," she said, just before their lips met again in yet another mind-blowing kiss, his arms pulling her back in as hers resumed their journey through his hair. When they pulled back again, Castle removed his hands from her body, taking a deep breath.

"I should get back to making dinner and you…you should really wash those," he motioned towards the fruit and vegetables on the floor and Kate hastened to pick them up, nodding her agreement, "but we'll, uh…we'll continue this…later?" he asked, holding his breath as her piercing green eyes studied him. A grin spread across her face at his nervous expression and she nodded.

"Perhaps," she said in a teasing tone, "we'll see." She winked at him before carrying the ingredients for the salad over to the opposite counter to be chopped, pulling down a salad bowl from over her head and a knife from the block. Castle eyed her as she washed the vegetables one by one before chopping them expertly. He smiled at her, unable to identify the emotions swirling deep inside of him from the sight of her. The only one he could think of was…but no, that was impossible; it didn't exist.

Castle shook off the ridiculous thought as he went back to preparing the broccoli to be sautéed. When the pasta was done boiling, he put both into a pan with some oil and began to sauté it, adding some fresh garlic powder and a hint of nutmeg for flavor. Behind him, Kate began to toss the salad.

"Any preference on dressing?" she asked.

"Anything is fine," Castle replied. "There's vinaigrette and thousand island in the fridge."

Kate nodded and grabbed the thousand island dressing from the fridge, pouring some on as she tossed. "Croutons?"

"Yes, please!" Castle replied and Kate located them, tossing in a couple of handfuls, giving the salad a couple more good tosses, and bringing the bowl over to the table to start serving.

She made up three bowls before going to the living room to fetch Alexis, who obediently came when called. Kate smiled as she picked her up, resting her on her hip. "She's very well-behaved for somebody who's supposed to be in her 'terrible two's' phase," she commented.

"Tell me about it," Castle replied. "It worries me sometimes how mature that kid is, but I just figure she got all the maturity her mother and I were supposed to have, tenfold. I just hope that she gets a little feisty in her teen years so she can at least have a normal adolescence."

"Be careful what you wish for," Kate warned. "Trust me; I was a wild child and I practically drove my parents to the brink of insanity just a couple years ago after I got my tattoo." She heard something drop and she turned to see Castle staring at her, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Y-you've got a t-tattoo?" he asked. "Wh-where?"

Kate just grinned and winked, placing Alexis down in her seat and handing her a bowl with a small kid's fork. "Oh, can she feed herself?"

"Salad?" Castle asked. "Yeah; she might get a little messy, though, so watch out." Kate nodded and made sure the toddler was holding her utensil the right way before bringing Castle his bowl and fork at the stove. He thanked her and leaned down to kiss her chastely on the lips, making Kate swoon for a moment. After all, this was her favorite author she was kissing; even if he _was _her fiancé. It was still so…exciting? Kate couldn't tell if that was the right word, but it did seem to be appropriate there. When they parted, both were smiling; Kate had a slight blush on her face as she moved back to the table, picking up her own bowl as she sat down in the seat next to Alexis's high chair. She watched with a smile as Alexis shoved as much food as she could into her mouth, dressing dripping down her chin as she chomped, then laughed out loud as she glanced over at Castle, who'd done the exact same thing.

"You know, Castle," she said as she wiped Alexis's face with a napkin, "I think I'm finally starting to see the family resemblance here." Castle smiled at her, his cheeks puffed up with food, and she laughed again, shaking her head, turning back to her own salad. She occasionally had to stop eating to clean Alexis's face and hands but the little girl was able to keep herself clean for the most part. Not a single drop of food landed on her bib or ended up on the surface of her high chair table that didn't come from the dressing-soaked fork in her hand. Once she completely finished her salad, Kate gave her one more wipe down and took both of their bowls to the sink to be washed.

As she was rinsing the bowls, she heard a rather large belch from behind her and she turned to give Castle what her father had dubbed, 'The Look,' but he put his hands up in surrender, before pointing to Alexis, who had her chubby little hand pressed over her mouth and was giggling infectiously. Kate's eyebrows rose in surprise as she turned to Castle, who pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

"That's my girl," he sniffed and Kate couldn't suppress her own laughter as she turned back to her dishes, shaking her head at her goofball fiancé.

He was certainly not what she had expected but that was okay, she thought, because he was better; more fun. She could actually get used to this.

**So what do you think? I'm sorry that there's still no smut but that will come along shortly. You just have to be a little patient with me here; I have a lot on my plate and I'm still trying to find a full-time job for the summer. Please REVIEW in the meantime, though. Thanks a million! Love ya!**


	13. Chapter 12

**I'm baaaaack. And even though it's only 11 o'clock right now, I am exhausted! But my muse will not let me sleep so I must lull her with a little bedtime story. Here it is! Enjoy!**

Chapter Twelve

After they'd finished dinner (which, Kate had to admit, had been simply delicious), Castle brought Alexis into his own bathroom for bath time, which she evidently favored having in the huge Jacuzzi tub with all the bubbles. Before he entered his room, he asked Kate to go up to Alexis's room and pick out some pajamas for her to wear to bed. Kate nodded and hurried up.

As she entered the room, she began to notice things she hadn't seen before. Such as the rocking chair in the corner and, at the opposite side of the room, two tiny, overstuffed bookshelves met in a corner with a few beanbag chairs scattered around and a few more stuffed animals. Kate smiled at it all; the room reminding her much of her own as a small child. She spotted the lavender-colored dresser next to the bed and went to it, opening drawer after drawer in search of pajamas and underwear for Alexis.

She ended up choosing a pair of plain purple footy pajamas and some white cotton undies with pink roses on them, tucking the clothing underneath her arm and heading back downstairs to deliver them to Castle.

When she arrived in the downstairs bathroom, she found Castle half-soaked and pouting at a giggling little redhead, covered in bubbles from her bath. Kate chuckled as she stepped in.

"I thought Alexis was the one getting a bath," she commented, putting the pajamas down on the counter, the only dry surface it seemed.

"She _is_," Castle grumbled, "but the little demon splashed me!"

"Oh, stop whining, Castle," Kate scolded, playfully, "and go get changed; I'll take it from here."

"I hope you're not wearing silk," Castle remarked as he stood and made his way into his bedroom.

"Oh, I don't think Alexis will splash _me_; will you?" she turned to the toddler, who shook her head. Castle's pout deepened and he left without another word as Kate sat on the stool next to the tub, picking up a large pitcher and filling it with water. "Okay, now close your eyes, pinch your nose, and hold your breath," Kate said and Alexis did as she was told, allowing Kate to pour the water over her head, washing away all the soap bubbles. When Kate allowed her to open her eyes and breathe again, Alexis burst into a fit of giggles, making Kate laugh along with her.

Kate was right about the rest of the bath; Alexis did not splash her once and was a perfect angel as Kate shampooed and rinsed her hair, before wrapping her in a towel to dry off. As Alexis dried, Kate pressed the button to open the drain and helped the toddler as she made sure it all went down. Once she was as dry as could be, Kate helped Alexis into her pajamas, at which time Kate began to notice that Alexis kept yawning and was becoming sluggish in her movements. Kate remembered what Castle had said about Alexis's inability to last half an hour after eating before sleep would come to claim her, which is probably the reason he had rushed her into the bath right after supper. By the time she'd zipped up the footsy pajamas, Alexis was already starting to doze off. Kate smiled down at her as she picked her up and cradled her in her arms like a baby, wondering what it might be like a couple of years from now, having her own child; hers and Castle's. Her heart leapt at the thought of having her own little boy or girl, especially if he or she turned out anything like Alexis did.

She carried the little girl into the other room, where Castle lay on his bed, a book in his hands, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. He looked up as they entered, smiling softly at the child in his fiancée's arms before standing and meeting her halfway. Kate handed him Alexis and he tucked her against his broad chest, kissing her forehead and brushing her damp curls behind her ear, smiling as she let out a soft snort.

"She's so precious, isn't she?" he whispered, looking up at Kate, who nodded.

"She really is," she said, imagining a little boy with shaggy brown hair in Alexis's place; one with bright blue eyes and her nose. She smiled up at Castle, who smiled back and leaned down to kiss her, sweetly.

When they pulled back he motioned for her to follow him, leading her out through the living room and up the stairs, where he stopped in front of Kate's room. "Go get changed," he said, "and I'll put her to bed." Kate nodded, making her way into her bedroom and quickly changing into a pair of gray shorts and a baggy purple shirt, before heading next door to Alexis's room, where Castle was currently curled up next to her on the bed, a storybook in his hands as he whispered the tale of Little Red Riding Hood to her. Alexis was fast asleep but that didn't seem to matter to Castle, as he still made the funny voices, albeit whisper-soft, and stroked a hand over her hair, before finishing it off with, "and they all lived happily ever after. The end. Goodnight, Pumpkin," he whispered, kissing her forehead, before standing up and placing the book on her nightstand. He smiled as Alexis turned over, her arms wrapped around her stuffed monkey and red hair falling over her eyes.

Kate watched him watch the toddler sleep for a few moments before he turned and smiled at her, making his way over and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her towards him. He didn't kiss her, but turned her so that her back was to him as he rested his chin on her head and Kate relaxed back into him as they both watched the slow, even breathing of the little girl wrapped up in her blankets.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Kate. "Hey, Castle?" she whispered, turning to look at him, "do you…do you want more kids?"

Castle grinned down at her. "I wouldn't mind them," he answered, truthfully, "why? Do you?"

Kate smiled, nodding. "It would be nice," she admitted. "I've always seen myself with at least one child. After I'm married, of course," she added, pointedly.

Castle chuckled. "Don't worry," Castle said, "what happened with Meredith was a fluke. We'll be more responsible…when we _are _ready to take that step, that is."

"And when will that be?" Kate heard herself ask, blushing as the words slipped out. She didn't try to take them back, waiting for his reaction.

"After the third date," Castle surprised her by saying.

"What?" Kate asked, confused.

Castle let go of her for a moment, before taking her hand and pulling her out into the hallway. Once they were outside, he closed Alexis's door and turned back to Kate.

"I'm old-fashioned," he said, "as you already know, and so I believe in courting a woman—even one that I'm already engaged to—and that means that I wait until the third date to…well, you know," he said, winking at her, making Kate blush.

"What about the first and second?" Kate asked. "What do you do after those?"

"The first one is a simple goodnight kiss," Castle said, smiling at her, "and the second might constitute a bit of a make-out session with some over the shirt fondling," he informed her.

Kate chuckled. "Well, I'm pretty sure we already surpassed the first date, then," she said, thinking back on all their kisses in the past twenty-four hours. "And the second, if you count that little kitchen attack."

Castle chuckled. "Those don't count as dates, Kate," he said, "since Alexis was right around the corner or next to us every time."

"Then what do you mean by date?" Kate asked, becoming exasperated.

"I mean that for the first date, I get to take you out to a nice, candlelit dinner, _alone_, where we talk and find out each other's interests, likes, dislikes, etc. and on the second, I take you to a movie, where we spend the majority with our tongues down each other's throats and our hands going places they've never gone before."

"And on the third?" Kate asked, a little breathily.

"On the third, we do something competitive, like mini golf or bowling or go-kart racing; something to get us all worked up so that when we get home…" he trailed off, wiggling his eye brows at her and making Kate giggle and shove his chest. "Understood?" he asked.

Kate nodded. "Mmhmm," she said, "so when, exactly, _is _this first date, Mr. Castle?" she purred, grinning up at him.

"Ooh, eager, are we?" he teased. "How about tomorrow night? I'll drop Alexis off at my parents' for the evening and I'll get us reservations for one of the nicest restaurants this side of Central Park. Sound good?"

Kate smiled. "Perfect," she said, smiling up at him. "Goodnight, Castle," she said, turning towards her room, only to be stopped by his hand on her arm.

"What," he said, "no good night kiss?"

Kate's grin widened. "Not until the first date," she reminded him, shaking off his arm and sauntering towards her room, winking at him as she shut the door. Castle stood there, sputtering at the closed door, his eyes wide and his jaw practically at his feet.

On the other side, Kate was leaning back against the door, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat, her cheeks flushed scarlet and a wide smile etched on her face.

_This has to be what it feels like_, she thought to herself, _right?_

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**Also check out my new Tumblr blog/fanfic, Texts-From-Castle!**


	14. Chapter 13

**This is long overdue but enjoy!**

Chapter Thirteen

Kate woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee wafting in from somewhere outside her closed door. Opening her eyes, she sat up and stretched, feeling completely relaxed and comfortable; more so than she'd felt in years. Her new mattress was like a cloud.

She looked at the clock next to her bed, seeing that it was already seven AM; school would start at seven-thirty. She groaned at the thought; she was eighteen now, and engaged, and yet she was still expected to attend high school. Although, she reasoned, if she wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice, school was pretty much mandatory…

She tried to ignore her antagonistic feelings toward her education as she readied herself for school, picking out a simple t shirt and jeans to wear, pairing them with a hoodie and boots, before grabbing her backpack and heading downstairs.

She was surprised to see Castle already up and awake, making breakfast for Alexis, who sat, wide-eyed and smiling adorably, in her high chair, a sippy cup held tightly in her hands. Kate greeted her first with a kiss to the top of her head, before making her way to the fridge to grab an apple for breakfast, completely ignoring Castle, who'd puckered up as she entered the kitchen. His lips fell into a pout as she passed him by.

"Hey!" he whined. "What about _my _good morning kiss?"

Kate laughed, emerging from behind the refrigerator door. "No kisses until after the first date, remember?" she reminded him, taking a bite of the apple. Castle's pout deepened and she giggled, motioning him towards her. He stepped up to her grinning like an excited puppy (she could practically see his tail wagging) and puckered up once more. Kate rolled her eyes and used her free hand to lower his head so that her lips could reach his forehead, surprising Castle. When she pulled back, he was grinning happily.

"I love loopholes," he joked and Kate laughed, before turning to walk out the door. Castle called out to her before she could leave, though.

"Hey, don't you want any coffee?" he asked.

"I don't have time," Kate called over her shoulder. "I have fifteen minutes to get to school."

"I already have it in a to-go cup," Castle said, stopping her in her tracks. Kate turned to see a cup in his hand, identical to the one he'd given her yesterday. He held it out towards her and Kate grinned, walking towards him and taking it from him, kissing his cheek in thanks before she took a sip.

"Heavenly," she sighed, before giving his cheek one more kiss and turning back towards the door. "See ya later, Castle," she called over her shoulder. "Bye, Alexis!"

The toddler waved at her. "Bye-bye, Kate!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly. Kate gave her one more bright smile before walking out the door.

As she walked the short distance to her school (which was really a great convenience being so close to the building), Kate sipped her coffee, reveling in the wonderfully rich taste of the warm liquid as it slid down her throat. She'd never been able to get her own coffee to taste this good before, though she had tried, and she was amazed at how addicted she already was to Castle's coffee on only the second cup!

She smiled at the thought of Castle and their date later that night. She made a mental note to check with Lanie to see if she could come and help her pick something to wear. Kate had never been on a real, old-fashioned date before Castle. Dating was a thing that married couples did to stay close with each other. Every lover she'd ever had had just been about figuring out what she liked, sexually, and practicing for the day she would receive her engagement. It had never been about getting to know the other person because that hadn't been very important at the time. Now…now she was going to get to know the man she would spend the rest of her (or his) life with.

The thought—and its permanence—sent chills down Kate's spine. The only thing she'd had forever were her parents and she'd pretty much been stuck with them from birth. Castle was different; she could decide to leave him. She was not required, by any law, to stay with him if she didn't want to. Kate was still unsure as to if she _wanted _to stay with him. She tried to shake off those thoughts; it was only day three of their engagement. She had plenty of time to decide whether or not she would stay with him.

Taking one more sip of her coffee, Kate made her way over to the trash can on the corner to toss it. She paused only when she saw the writing that she'd missed earlier on the side of the cup. Grinning, she turned it over in her hand to get a better look, her smile widening and her eyes rolling as she read what he'd written.

"Have a nice day. Seeya tonight for our first date. Wear something sexy ;-) –Castle"

Kate snorted as she tossed the cup, shaking her head as she made her way up the steps to her school. The small smile on her face didn't leave her the entire day.

The second school let out for the day, Kate was being dragged through the crowd by her much shorter best friend, who somehow was able to separate the sea of people with only her voice.

"Outta my way!" Lanie shouted, shoving a sophomore jock aside. "MOVE IT!" she growled at a gaggle of cheerleaders gossiping and giggling, who immediately glared at her but moved aside anyway. "I'm a smack you if you don't get outta our way," she hissed at some poor Freshman boys, who practically leaped out of her way. Kate said nothing; she just allowed herself to be dragged as she smiled apologetically at all who were so unlucky as to cross Lanie's path.

They made it to the sidewalk in front of the school in a record-breaking forty-seven seconds, but Lanie didn't stop there. No, she dragged Kate all the way to her and Castle's apartment, not stopping to even wait for the light to change as they crossed the street. Thankfully they weren't hit by the million runaway taxis and that was the only intersection they came across. The doorman, who'd seen them coming from a block away, already had the door open for them as they arrived.

"Good day," he greeted. Kate responded in kind as she and Lanie entered the lobby, making their way quickly to the elevator.

"Can you let go of my arm now?" Kate hissed as soon as the doors closed. She didn't even give her friend a chance to respond before she pulled her arm out of her grasp, rubbing it as she noticed the red nail marks. "Geez, Lanie! Did you have to hold me so tightly?" she moaned, frowning.

"Sorry, girl," Lanie apologized, "but I wanted to make sure we had enough time to get you ready for tonight."

Kate looked at her watch. "Lanie, we have at least _four hours_ until the date!"

"Which is just _barely_ enough time for you to shower, paint your nails _and _your toenails, do your makeup, do your hair, and find something to wear!"

Kate rolled her eyes. "That shouldn't take too long," she huffed as the elevator doors opened and she began to stroll casually towards the loft, with a frantic and fuming Lanie on her heels.

"GIRL, I'M A SMACK YOU!"

"How about this one?" Kate asked, holding up her fifth dress against her body; a pink, frilly number that made Lanie snort.

"I didn't know he was taking you to Munchkin Land!" she teased, making Kate glare.

"That's not funny," Kate growled, gaining another snort from her friend. "Come on, Lanie! _One _of these dresses _has _to work for tonight! They're all I've got!"

"I dunno, girl," Lanie replied, looking through Kate's large new closet, "none of these really look like first date material."

"Well what did you wear on your first date with Javi?" Kate asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"That's different," Lanie responded, "Javi took me to a carnival for our first date so I was allowed to wear jeans. But _your_ man is taking you to some fancy-shmancy—ooh!" Lanie gasped as she pulled out a dress she hadn't seen before. "Try this one on!" she said, shoving it at Kate, who took it back into her bedroom to lay it on the bed.

It was a short, slim, sleeveless midnight blue dress with a halter-top and a sash that tied around the waist and it was perfect. Kate unhooked it from the hanger and dropped her robe, stepping into the dress and tying it up around her neck, calling for Lanie to come out of the closet.

Lanie's head popped out and she grinned as soon as she saw her best friend. Even with her hair still wrapped up in a towel and not a bit of makeup on her face, Kate Beckett was a sight to behold. She was just as gorgeous as ever and even Lanie could appreciate that.

"Could you tie the sash for me?" Kate asked, turning around to show Lanie her back. Lanie agreed and immediately stepped up, tying a perfect bow on her friend's back.

"Okay," she said, "now let's get to your hair and makeup. I hope we finish in time."

Kate looked at the clock on her bedside table. "Lanie," she said, "we have three hours; I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Oh my God, Lanie! We only have ten minutes left; hurry up!" Kate growled as her friend put the finishing touches on her hair, curling one of the two strands she'd left down from the fancy updo she'd put Kate's hair into.

"Patience is a virtue, girl," Lanie replied, grinning as she released the perfect curl.

"Yeah? Well I'll _patiently_ stick my foot up your ass then; hurry up!" Kate responded, growing more and more frustrated by the second. Lanie just laughed.

"Castle is a lucky man," she joked, curling the other strand, before turning off the iron. "All done, girl. Just let me fix your eye shadow; it's a little uneven."

Kate sighed but allowed Lanie to fix the smoky purple eye shadow, making her hazel-green eyes pop. When she moved back, she allowed Kate to look at her reflection in the mirror, watching with a smile as the girl's natural blush mixed with the blush Lanie had applied earlier.

"You look gorgeous, Kate," Lanie said, hugging her best friend, before walking towards her closet, "just let me find you a pair of shoes to wear with that."

Kate sighed, surveying herself in the mirror. She'd never looked quite so…beautiful in her entire life. She'd never had a reason to overdress like this before. Sure, she'd been to dinners and a few benefits with her parents before but she'd never put on so much makeup or worn a particularly fancy dress. Her dresses had always been dress-casual a business-y. She'd rarely even worn makeup other than for the sole purpose of covering up blemishes. She'd never dressed up so much for another person.

"I found two pairs!" Lanie exclaimed as she emerged from the closet once more. "Wasn't hard, either; you have _way _too many shoes, girl."

Kate grinned. "Impossible," she replied, cheekily. Lanie rolled her eyes and showed her what she found.

"Black pumps or silver straps?" she asked, holding them up.

"Even though my toes will probably hate me for it…silver straps," Kate replied, pointing to the pair of gladiator-like four inch heels that Lanie held in her right hand. Lanie handed them over and went to go return the other heels to their box. By the time she returned, Kate had already donned the heels and pulled off her robe, which had been protecting her dress from the makeup and hair gel.

Lanie smiled at her. "You look amazing, Honey," she said, "Writer Boy is gonna flip!" Suddenly, there was a knock at Kate's bedroom door. "Looks like we're done right on time," Lanie said, glancing at the clock. It was seven PM.

"Looks like it," Kate breathed, suddenly very nervous. As if Lanie could sense it, she took her friend's hands in her own.

"It's gonna be fine, girl," she promised her, squeezing her hands. "You look drop-dead gorgeous and that man is gonna have trouble picking up his tongue off the ground as soon as he sees you; trust me." She winked, making Kate chuckle.

"Thanks, Lanie," Kate whispered as she leaned down to hug her friend. "You're the best."

"And don't you forget it," she whispered back. "Now go on and let that boy in so he can see how truly lucky he is."

Kate chuckled and let go of Lanie, turning towards the door. She smoothed her hands down her dress and grabbed her purse from her dresser before taking a deep breath and reaching for the knob.

**Date #1 is next! REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 14

**First date time! Enjoy!**

Chapter Fourteen

The second the door was pulled all the way open, Kate found herself with a face full of white lilies. Peeking around the flowers, she eyed a nervous-looking Richard Castle, whose eyes were wide and glued to her dress, his jaw slack. He was dressed in a dark blue shirt with a silver tie, and a black suit. His hair was gelled and combed back slightly. Kate chuckled and took the offered flowers, pressing her nose into their sweet scent.

"Thank you, Castle," she replied, smiling sweetly. "They're beautiful."

Castle grinned boyishly, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks as his eyes finally met hers. "Uh…no problem," he mumbled, swallowing hard. "Are you, uh, are you ready to go?"

Kate nodded, turning to say goodbye to Lanie just as her friend wrapped a dark blue shawl around her shoulders.

"Have fun tonight, Sweetie," Lanie said, kissing Kate on the cheek before leaning up to whisper in her ear. "Call me and tell me all about it; don't forget." The girls shared one more smile before Lanie made her way out, saying goodbye to Castle as she left.

When Lanie was gone, Castle turned back to Kate. "Ready?" he asked and Kate nodded, taking the arm he offered and placing the flowers on her dresser, before allowing him to guide her out of the apartment, her heart thundering in her chest the whole way.

Castle kept her in the dark about where they were going the entire cab ride. Kate had a hunch they might be going to the Old Haunt again in order to redo their first official meeting, but that idea went swiftly out the window as they passed said bar, driving on for another fifteen minutes before finally coming to a complete stop in some alley.

Kate's eyes widened as she noticed where they were. She turned to Castle, inquisitively. "Where are we?" she asked.

Castle grinned, stepping out of the cab, coming around to help her out in a gentlemanly fashion. "One of my favorite restaurants," he answered as a nearby door opened, a younger man poking his head out and waving at the couple. Castle waved back and led Kate towards the entrance. Kate was about to ask why they were entering through the alleyway when she heard a shout coming from the street side and about a thousand voices following it. She just caught sight of dozens of men and women toting cameras and notebooks when Castle practically pulled her into the restaurant, smiling apologetically at her.

"Sorry," he said, "I was hoping to keep you out of the press for now, but they're _relentless_!"

Kate chuckled. "It's fine, Castle. I actually sort of expected something like this; it's not every day you get engaged to an A-list celebrity such as yourself."

Castle scoffed. "Please," he said, bashfully, "I'm _B-_list, at best." Kate chuckled again, before taking a look around; they were in the kitchen of…

"So, where are we, exactly?" she asked, looking around at the bustling staff and the young blonde woman who was yelling at them all.

Castle grinned down at her. "Le Cirque, of course!" he exclaimed. "My friend Madison is the chef here so she got us some last minute reservations."

"_Sous-chef_, Ricky," the blonde woman said, grinning as she approached. "The chef is just out with appendicitis, but he swears to be back as soon as possible." She turned to Kate, her smile widening. "Hi! You must be Kate; I'm Madison Queller, but you can call me Maddie." She stuck out her hand for Kate to take, which she did, immediately.

"It's very nice to meet you," Kate replied. "Thank you so much for getting us these last-minute reservations; it must have been a real inconvenience."

"Nah," Maddie replied, shaking her head, "my daddy owns the place. That's how I got my internship and eventual career position as sous to Chef Ramsey. Not that I didn't work my ass off for it, but I probably never would have gotten the opportunity otherwise, ya know?" Kate nodded in understanding. "Anyway, if you'll just follow me, I'll get you set up at a table and we can get this night started." Castle nodded, slinging his arm around Kate's waist as they followed Maddie out into the main dining room, where a hostess met them, handing them each a menu and taking Rick's coat and Kate's shawl. "A waiter will be with you shortly," Maddie told them, "enjoy your meal. I'll be back later to see how it's going." They nodded and thanked her, watching as the cheery blonde made her way back to the kitchen, before turning to each other.

"Maddie was engaged to a friend of mine a while back," Castle explained and Kate nodded.

"What happened there?" Kate asked.

Castle shrugged. "He wanted her to give up cooking, which is ridiculous if you ask me. Maddie's a wonderful cook and shouldn't have to give up her dream for anybody."

"Agreed," Kate said, nodding. "So she dumped him?"

Castle shook his head. "No, she refused to give it up, so he dumped her. Now she's engaged again and this guy is a lot better. They're getting married in January." Kate nodded.

"Good for her," she said, smiling. "She seems like a nice person."

"She's great," Castle said, nodding. "She helped me out a lot with Alexis after her mother died. The girl is going to be a wonderful mother."

"I bet," Kate said, grinning. "Speaking of mothers, I called mine today at lunch break and she said she's fine with having Thanksgiving dinner at the loft, so long as she gets to cook the meal."

"Done," Castle agreed. "She'll have full access anytime she wants, as long as it gets _my _mother away from the kitchen."

"Martha's not the best cook?" Kate asked, smiling.

"Not exactly," Castle agreed. "I swear that woman could burn ice."

Kate laughed, her shoulders shaking with mirth as their waiter approached.

"Good evening," he greeted, "I'm Shane and I will be your waiter this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Castle nodded. "A bottle of red," he requested, "whatever you have." (In this world, drinking age was lowered to eighteen, as it should be.)

"Okay, then," Shane said, "I'll be right back."

"What about your father?" Kate said as soon as the waiter was gone.

"What about him?" Castle asked.

Kate laughed. "How is he?"

"He's good," Castle replied. "He's staying until after Thanksgiving this time and he's really looking forward to meeting you."

Kate beamed. "Well, I'm looking forward to meeting him, as well," she said. "From the way you talk about him, he seems like a really great guy."

Castle smiled. "He is."

The waiter returned toting a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket, placing it next to their table and smiling at Castle as he uncorked the bottle and poured his glass, allowing his fingers to brush over Rick's as he handed him the glass. Kate watched in amusement before handing over her own glass, not missing the way the waiter continued to glance at her fiancé as he poured her wine. After he'd handed her the glass, he placed the bottle back into the ice bucket and smiled at Castle.

"Are you ready to order?" he asked.

Castle, oblivious, looked to Kate, who shook her head, grinning. "Not yet," he answered, looking up at the waiter, smiling charmingly.

The waiter beamed back. "Okay then, I'll just give you some time. Be back in a few," he said, winking at Castle before hurrying off to his next table. Castle completely missed the flirty move, but Kate didn't, and she could barely suppress her giggles.

Castle's eyes widened when he heard a small snort come from his date. "What?" he asked, confused. Kate just shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied, trying to keep her composure as she took a sip of wine. Castle eyed her curiously before taking a sip from his own glass.

The entire meal was spent half in polite conversation about their families and half Kate trying to suppress her giggles as the waiter flirted, shamelessly, with Castle while he remained blissfully unaware of the server's affections. By the time they got dessert and Kate noticed that his apple pie a la mode had extra cherries while hers didn't have any, it had become almost too much for her. Especially since he didn't seem to notice anything amiss and just offered her half of his cherries, which she took with a smile. By the time the check came, the waiter was done with subtle advances and actually included his phone number in the check…which he handed straight to Castle with a wink, making Kate choke on her water.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked as their flirtatious waiter walked away. Kate nodded, grinning into her napkin.

"I'm fine," she lied, "it just went down the wrong pipe. Castle nodded, still looking concerned, before glancing down at the check, furrowing his brow.

"Hey," he said, "what nerve this guy has; he put his number on our copy of the check. As if you're just going to leave your fiancé for some guy that waited on you once."

That was it. Kate couldn't hold the laughter back. She burst into hysterics, trying to cover it up the best she could with her napkin over her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes, as Castle watched on, thoroughly confused.

"What's so funny?" he asked, sending Kate into another fit, nearly falling on the floor in her mirth.

Later, as they walked through the park, Castle was quiet. After realizing that the phone number was meant for him and that the waiter had been attempting to flirt with him the entire meal, he had been embarrassed and flustered, refusing to look the waiter in the eyes as he handed over his credit card. The waiter had not taken the hint and continued to smile and brush hands with Castle until they finally stood and left.

Now they were walking, arm in arm, through Central Park, Kate trying to fight off fits of random laughter, and Castle pouting at his fiancée's entertainment at his expense.

"It's not funny," he practically whined after her most recent laughing fit, in which she snorted adorably.

"Oh come on, Castle!" Kate teased. "It's hilarious! Mostly because the _ever-observant_ writer was so totally oblivious to his advances."

"They weren't _that _obvious," Castle growled. "Anybody could have missed them."

"Then why didn't I?" Kate asked, grinning.

"Hmm, good question. Maybe you should be a detective instead of a lawyer," Castle said, beaming down at her.

Kate scoffed. "And risk getting shot at every single day? No thanks. I'd rather serve up justice on the bench, thank you very much. I am going to be a Supreme Court Justice one day."

Castle smiled at her. "I bet you will be," he said, "and I'll be right there beside you…begging to be let off with a warning."

Kate laughed. "You must have done something pretty horrible to wind up next to me, Castle."

"Ehh, I'll probably get framed for something," he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Like what?"

He shrugged. "Murder maybe? But like a high-class murder; an assassination! Like the President or something!"

Kate snorted. "Nobody would believe that," she said, shaking her head.

"Why not? I am a murder mystery novelist, after all."

"Yeah, but anybody who really knew you would know that you couldn't kill anybody, let alone the President."

"What; you don't think I'm smart enough to pull off a presidential assassination?"

"Oh, no, Castle," Kate said, patting his arm, "you're plenty smart. You just have too good of a heart to kill."

"Not entirely," Castle protested. "I'd kill for people I care about; Alexis, my parents, you…"

Kate looked up at him, her eyes wide. "You'd kill for me?" she asked, surprised.

Castle nodded. "In a heartbeat. I'd die for you, too."

"Why?" Kate asked, softly, trying to ignore the ridiculous voice in her head. _You know exactly why!_ It was too soon to think about that.

"Because you're my family now," Castle answered, confidently, cupping her cheek, "and I know that if I died, you would watch over the rest of our family, so I'd be fine with leaving if it came down to it."

Kate smiled up at him, her cheeks slightly flushed. "That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me," she said, softly. Castle smiled, brightly.

"It's true," he whispered, leaning down towards her. Kate's smile grew as she reached up, laying her lips gently against his forehead, before bringing them next to his ear.

"I think I'm about ready for my goodnight kiss now," she whispered, "but first we should probably get home."

Castle nodded as he pulled back, taking her hand in his as they made their way through the rest of Central Park.

When they got home, Castle pretty much dragged Kate to her room, turning to face her at the door. Kate smiled up at him.

"I had a great time tonight, Castle," she said, softly. "Thank you so much for bringing me out to dinner."

Castle grinned back. "It was my pleasure," he said, looking deep into her eyes. Kate blushed as she felt more than saw his lips getting closer to hers, until all she would have to do is lean up slightly…

Their lips met in a gentle, yet passionate kiss, lips exploring and gliding against each other as they're arms wrapped loosely around each other's waists. Kate could feel Castle's heart pounding in his chest, the rhythm matching her own perfectly, as he pressed her body closer to his, getting a bit carried away with the kiss. Kate pulled away when she felt his mouth open against hers.

"Castle," she gasped, detaching their lips, "we should stop before we bypass dates two and three."

Castle sighed. "Remind me why I made that rule again?" he asked. Kate chuckled.

"Because you're old-fashioned," she reminded him, "and because you're a gentleman. It's one of the things I really l-like about you." She smiled softly up at him, before moving away and opening the door to her room. "Goodnight, Castle," she said before closing the door.

Once inside her room, Kate fell back against the door, breathing heavily and pressing her hand to her lips, smiling to herself as she fought to bring her heart rate down.

"Wow," she whispered, feeling unusually giddy.

On the other side of the door, Castle was doing the same thing, grinning to himself as he ran his fingers through his hair. Sparing one more glance at Kate's bedroom door, he made his way downstairs to his own room, forcing himself not to turn back.

Unbeknownst to him, Kate opened the door almost as soon as he'd already vanished from sight, her face falling when she didn't see him waiting outside the door.

**REVIEWS please! Also, if you could go to Bubblews . com and look up Cassie_Bones, I have a new fic I'm working on that will be exclusively there and it would be great if you guys could go look at it. I'll be updating that one all summer. Thank you! **

**Also, if you would like to see the chapter outline that I made just before I wrote this beautiful piece of work, I took a picture of it and it will be up on my Tumblr the second this is published. Again, I'd love it if you checked that out! Thanks!**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Kate woke up the next morning to a blinking PA, meaning she had a call. She glanced at the clock, which read a quarter after six, and groaned, pressing the button on her PA to open the call, burying her face back in the pillow.

"Hey, Kate!" Castle's voice broke through her haze and Kate sat up, blinking on his face on her screen.

"Castle?" she asked, confused. "Why are you calling me? I'm right upstairs."

"About that…" Castle said, laughing, "I'm actually at my parents' house right now. Alexis had a nightmare so I had to leave around three to come and calm her down."

"Aw," Kate said, frowning, "is she okay?"

Castle nodded. "She's fine," he assured her. "She was all smiles and giggles within fifteen minutes of my getting here but I didn't want to walk all the way back with a sleeping toddler on my shoulder so I just stayed over. I just wanted to let you know where I was in case you got downstairs and I wasn't there. I already prepared the latte machine before I left so you just have to press the start button and wait a couple of minutes. And there's some fruit in the fridge so you might want to grab an apple or something on your way out."

Kate smiled. "Sounds good," she responded, stretching, "thanks, Castle. Are you and Lex gonna be here when I get home?"

"Yup!" Castle assured her. "Alexis has been dying to see you since I dropped her off yesterday."

Kate's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

Castle laughed, nodding. "Really. You've made quite the impression on her. She doesn't spend a lot of time with females besides her grandmother and friends at Daycare. It's kind of nice for her to finally have a mother figure around."

Kate smiled, nodding. "I bet. Well, tell her I'll take her to the park as soon as I get home, then, and we can spend as much time as she wants to there."

"I'm sure she'll just love that," Castle said, grinning. "But don't forget; we have a date tonight. Six o'clock, sharp. We'll drop Lex off at my parents' on the way."

"Actually," Kate said, "if you don't mind, my mother said she'd like to watch Alexis tonight. I called her last night and she just wants a chance to get to know her new granddaughter."

Castle grinned. "That actually sounds pretty good. We'll have to see what Lex thinks of that first, though. I don't know how comfortable she'll be with strangers."

"Oh, trust me, she's going to _love _my mother; she's already sworn to be the certifiable "cool" grandma and spoil our kids. And my father can be pretty goofy around the little ones."

Castle laughed. "Really? Because he seems the more serious type to me."

"You've only seen one layer," Kate said, "but us Becketts have more beneath the surface than what meets the eye."

"I can't wait to start peeling," Castle joked, winking to her, "I'll see you later, Kate."

"Bye, Castle," Kate replied, smiling widely and waving as the call ended. She lay back on her bed, again feeling the fluttering of her stomach and the swelling in her chest. She still couldn't identify the feeling, nor did she feel comfortable naming what she wasn't sure of.

Kate shook of her thoughts and stood up, stretching out next to her bed and making her way over to the glorious walk-in closet to pick out something to wear. She returned moments later wearing a red sweater, a matching knit hat, and a pair of thick jeans, paired with her favorite brown leather boots. She checked her outfit over in the mirror, noticing that the sweater was just a bit longer than necessary. Racing back into the closet, she pulled out a thick, brown leather belt that matched her boots and fastened it around her waist, over the sweater, grinning at herself in the mirror.

"Perfect," she said before grabbing her backpack and heading downstairs. She pressed the start on the coffee maker and grabbed an apple from the fridge, eating it at the counter as she waited for her coffee to finish.

As she waited, she thought back to her conversation with Lanie and her mother the night before. She'd called Lanie before she could even undress and her friend looked like she'd been waiting all night for the call and had been way too excited as she asked about what Castle had done for their date.

Kate told her everything as she dressed and got comfortable, even going so far as to tell her about the incident in the hallway. Lanie groaned when Kate told her about Castle disappearing before she could even open the door, but agreed that it was for the best, especially if they wanted the relationship to last. She admitted that her and Espo hadn't even slept together until after spending at least two weeks getting to know each other.

"Two _weeks_?" Kate asked. "It's been two days and I'm ready to do a whole lot more than kissing."

"Well, Javi and I were also pretty busy with school and work at the time, as well," Lanie said, "so we didn't get much alone time. And the time we did get, we were pretty much too tired to even bother getting to know each other. But, trust me, you don't want the only thing between you to be sex. Javi and I have a lot of common interests, luckily, but a lot of couples don't. You don't want to end up spending the rest of your life with somebody you don't even like and have nothing in common with, right?"

"I guess," Kate murmured. "I just…it's been a _long _time, Lanie. I haven't been with anybody since—"

"Tom?" Lanie asked, referring to Kate's most recent lover. "I know, girl, but it's only like one more day so relax."

"But it's not even just the sex thing," Kate whined. "It's _Castle._ I just…I feel like I want him a lot more than I've ever wanted anyone and so the waiting seems almost…_unbearable._ You know?"

Lanie chuckled. "I know what you mean," she agreed. "That's how I feel about Javi sometimes. You're just horny, Sweetie, and your mind is choosing the most available and appropriate person around to lust over. It goes away as soon as the deed is done. Trust me."

Kate didn't think that was it at all but she wasn't about to get teased by Lanie for her own theory, so she let it go and said goodnight, before hanging up and calling her mother. They talked for a while about Kate and Castle's date (leaving out the part where Kate very nearly dragged him into her room) and Johanna asked if she could watch Alexis during their next night out so she could get to know the little girl. Kate told her she'd ask Castle and get back to her before saying goodnight and heading to bed.

The coffee machine sounded, startling Kate enough that she dropped her apple—or what was left of it—on the counter. Kate picked up the core and dropped it into the trash before locating the to-go cups and filling one up with her coffee and heading out the door.

She was ambushed right outside the school by one tiny, tired-looking little woman.

"Give me that!" Lanie growled, taking her coffee away and downing the last little bit.

"Lanie!" Kate whined. "That's mine!"

Lanie glared at her, practically baring her teeth and Kate backed off.

"You can have it," she said. "Rough night?"

"That doesn't even _begin _to cover it," Lanie growled. "Those dumbass neighbors of mine decided it would be a nice night for a little get-together with a hundred of their closest friends. Who the _hell _has a party on a Monday night? Tell me, who does it? And one that lasts til three in the goddamn morning! Gah! Where did you get this?" she asked, pointing to the cup in her hand.

"Castle has a latte machine at the loft. He set it up for me before he left this morning."

"Left?" Lanie asked. "The boy's a writer; where does he have to go so early in the morning?"

"He left Alexis at his parents' house last night and he had to go over in the middle of the night to soothe her through a nightmare. He must have known he'd be staying there so he just set up the machine to make me one of these beauties. It's good, right?"

"Heavenly," Lanie sighed. "You gotta bring me one tomorrow, okay?" Kate nodded and they made their way into the building, Lanie dragging her feet the entire way.

This time, when school let out, Lanie didn't follow Kate home. Instead, she flagged down a cab and went straight home to take a nap while Kate walked back to the loft to pick up Alexis for the park.

By the time she entered the apartment, Alexis was pretty much hyped up, looking as if she'd been fed pure sugar for lunch. She ran, full-force, at Kate, practically bouncing off her legs and giggling as her bottom hit the floor. Kate laughed, tossing her book bag to the side and taking the little girl into her arms.

"Hey, Alexis," she said, smiling down at her, "did you miss me?"

The toddler nodded. "We go to park?" she asked, excitedly. Kate nodded.

"Yep," she said, "we're going to the park. You ready? Where's Daddy?"

"I'm right here," Castle said, coming out of his study carrying a long scarf and a sweater. "Just let me bundle her up first." Kate handed over the little girl and Castle helped her into the sweater, buttoning it up and looped the scarf around her neck. "Have fun, Pumpkin," he said, kissing her forehead, before standing up. "You too," he said, kissing Kate on the lips. Kate smiled into the kiss before pulling back to look into his eyes.

"We will," she said, softly, before pecking him once more and picking up Alexis. "Say goodbye to Daddy," she said and Alexis waved.

"Bye bye, Daddy!" she exclaimed and Kate laughed, before walking out.

At the park, Kate spent over an hour chasing Alexis around, pushing her on the swings, and going down the slide with her on her lap. She had a blast playing hide-and-seek and tag and giggling like a little girl with Alexis. She barely even registered the sun going down until most of the other parents had started packing up and calling for their kids. Looking at her watch, Kate realized that it was nearly five and the sun was already setting quickly over the horizon.

Locating Alexis, she placed her on her shoulders before making her way towards the loft, finding herself next to a woman carrying her own toddler and holding the hand of another child.

"They can sure get rowdy, can't they?" the woman asked Kate, smiling.

Kate nodded, smiling. "Yeah," Kate agreed, "but this is nothing compared to her goofball of a father." She didn't really know if Castle was all that energetic yet, but she sort of expected him to be, if the stories he told her proved anything.

"My husband's kind of a goof, as well," the woman laughed. "Sometimes I can swear that five-year-old Avery is more mature than him." She shook the hand of the little girl walking next to her. "How old's yours?"

"Alexis is almost three," Kate replied. "What about that little guy?"

"Michael is twenty-one months," the woman replied. "How long have you been married? You look so young."

"Oh, I'm not married yet," Kate replied. "I've actually just gotten engaged. Alexis is my fiancé's daughter from a previous marriage."

"Oh, well she seems to have taken to you quite well," the lady commented.

Kate nodded. "I've taken to her pretty well, too," she replied, smiling up at Alexis, who grinned back.

"Well, this is where I get off," the woman said, stopping at a building only two away from Kate's. "Have a nice evening, Miss. You too, Sweetheart."

"You too," Kate replied, waving as she made her way towards the loft.

By the time six rolled around, Kate was already dressed and ready for their date, deciding on something casual and comfortable since all they'd be doing is making out in the back of a movie theater. She had changed from her red sweater into an old, worn, t-shirt that looked tight on her (and was) but felt soft and comfy, and a pair of her favorite ripped jeans that hugged her ass and her hips snuggly. She threw on a pair of black Converse (never go out of style) and a leather jacket and ran a brush through her hair, applied some light makeup, and she was ready to go.

Castle showed up at her door right on time, wearing pretty much the same thing as her—an old t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers—toting Alexis in his arms, his eyes widening as he caught sight of her outfit.

"How is it that you somehow make everything look sexy?" he asked.

Kate shrugged. "It's a gift, I suppose," she replied, cheekily. "Ready to go?"

Castle nodded. "You bet," he said, grinning coyly. "You?"

Kate shrugged nonchalantly. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose," she said, "let's go."

**Next chapter will be the actual date. Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans! Also, there's a new oneshot up on my Bubblews and another part to the 101 Ways to Propose fic. Check it out! Also, please REVIEW!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Date time! Enjoy!**

Chapter Sixteen

As they made the trip from their cab to Jim and Johanna's apartment, Castle and Kate each had a firm grip on Alexis's hands, swinging her occasionally, making the little girl giggle. Castle had her overnight back slung over his shoulder and Kate held her Monkey Bunky under her arm. As they approached the apartment, they found the door, unsurprisingly, open, and Johanna standing right there, waiting for them, smiling brightly down at Alexis.

"Hi there!" she greeted the little girl, who smiled shyly at her. "My name is Johanna but you can call me Nana Jo. What's _your _name?"

"Alexis," she replied after a nudge from her father.

"Well, hello there, Alexis, it's very nice to meet you." Johanna stuck out her hand, knowing that it was too soon for hugs just yet. Alexis took it, tentatively, smiling at the firm yet soft grip this nice woman had on her hand. "Now," Johanna said, letting go, "do you know who I am?"

Alexis tipped her head to the side. "Nana Jo?" she guessed.

Johanna laughed, nodding. "Well, yes," she said, "that too. But I'm _also _Kate's mommy." Alexis's eyes widened at that and she looked up at Kate.

"_Really_?" she asked. Kate nodded.

"Yup," she replied, smiling.

Alexis turned back to Johanna, seeming a bit more relaxed now. "Okay," she simply said, smiling brightly.

"Okay!" Johanna echoed. "Now would you like to meet your Papa Jim?"

"_Papa Jim_?" Kate and Alexis echoed at the same time. Johanna chuckled and nodded, holding out her hand to Alexis, who hesitated only slightly before grabbing it and following her into the apartment, Castle and Kate trailing behind.

They found Jim sitting at the kitchen table, rolling dough in flour, his face covered in the white powder. He smiled up at Johanna as she entered with the child, their daughter and future son-in-law in tow.

"Well, hi there!" he greeted, putting the dough down and wiping his hands on his apron.

"Jim, dear," Johanna said, presenting the child, "this is Rick's little girl, Alexis. Alexis, sweetheart, this is your Papa Jim."

Jim smiled down at her, kneeling down to be at eye level with her, and put out his hand. "Sorry my hands are so messy," he said as she took it, "but Nana and I are making pizza. Would you like to help?" Alexis's eyes widened and she nodded, smiling excitedly.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, making Jim laugh.

"Well, then," he said, "let's get you an apron and get started, shall we?"

"And we've got just the one!" Johanna said, winking at Kate as she rushed over to the closet, pulling something out before rushing back over, showing Castle and Kate what she'd retrieved. Kate groaned as she saw the hot pink apron with, 'Kitchen Princess' scrawled across it in fancy white script. Johanna chuckled at her daughter's reaction. "Remember this, Katie?" she asked. "How you begged me for it in the store. You were just a little thing—no older than five years old and no taller than my knees—when you practically begged your father and I to buy this. Had I been alone, I probably could have resisted the pout and big puppy dog eye trick, but your father…well, he was always such a softy."

"And proud of it!" Jim huffed, indignantly.

Johanna rolled her eyes and moved towards Alexis, helping her out of her jacket and tying the apron around her waist. It was a bit too big for her. "You'll grow into it," Johanna promised, moving towards a drawer in the kitchen and getting out a few safety pins. She pinned the bottom of the apron so that it was a much safer length—effectively hiding the 'Princess' part of the apron—and placed Alexis on a chair so that she could help Jim spread the dough.

When it seemed Alexis was going to be perfectly fine spending the night with her newfound Nana and Papa, Kate handed over her monkey, and Castle her bag, explaining to Johanna how important it was for her to have the monkey while she slept and to call if anything was amiss. Johanna agreed, assuring them that Alexis would be just fine and telling them to have a good, fun evening out.

After kissing Alexis goodbye and promising to see her tomorrow—going pretty much unnoticed by the little girl as she rolled dough—Castle and Kate left, making their way downstairs to begin their date.

Twenty minutes later, they entered the theater to a movie neither of them really wanted to see but knew would be pretty much an empty auditorium. Each of them was holding a drink in their hand and clasping hands with each other, their eyes scanning the theater for a place to sit. There were plenty of options and they felt that the back row would probably be their best option, so they climbed the stairs as quickly as they could and sat patiently—still clasping hands—as they waited for the movie to begin and the lights to go down.

Because, as soon as they did, they were all over each other. Kate was the first to move, placing her hand on Castle's chin and moving his face down towards hers, sighing into his mouth as their lips collided. Castle responded in kind, his arms wrapping around her waist as he tried to pull her closer, shoving the empty cup holder out of the way as he did. Kate moaned as he pulled her into his lap, her hands running through his hair as she reveled in the feelings he was evoking from her.

She felt more alive than she ever had before and all they were doing was kissing, albeit passionately. How could he possibly be doing this to her? How could she feel this strongly about him after only a couple of days? Could it be…

No! Kate scolded herself. You're being ridiculous, Kate. It's just lust. You haven't had any in over four months. That's all.

Kate forced those ridiculous thoughts to the back of her mind and tried to focus on how his lips felt on hers, reveling in all the sensations he evoked in her.

For the entire duration of the movie—one hour, forty-seven minutes—Castle and Beckett's lips stayed almost perpetually attached, separating only when the need became too much to bear, but then their lips moved onto necks, nipping in between bated breaths and sighs. Hands roamed over each other's bodies, feeling parts they'd never felt before until, finally, the movie had ended and the lights came up, forcing them to move from their seats and towards the exit.

They grinned at each other when they pulled away, Kate reaching up to wipe some smudged lip gloss off of his lips, and Castle fixing her hair for her, trying to make it look more presentable. Kate thanked him, shyly, and stood, her eyes widening as he groaned.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. She'd been sitting in his lap the entire time and for a moment she thought that maybe she'd been too heavy.

"Yeah," Castle groaned, "I'm fine. I just…I need to go to the bathroom real quick." Grabbing his hoodie from the seat next to him where he'd thrown it, Castle rushed out, holding it in front of him.

Kate immediately realized what had happened and blushed, grinning slyly to herself as she grabbed her own jacket, throwing it on before grabbing their untouched drinks and making her way out of the theater, tossing the cups in the trash bin.

Once Castle had calmed down, he rejoined Kate in the lobby, blushing slightly when her eyes dipped down for a second before returning his gaze.

"You better now?" Kate asked, not even attempting to hide her knowing grin.

"I'm good," Castle replied, a bit tersely. "Wanna go get some food now?"

Kate nodded. "Sure," she said, "I'm starving."

"Pizza sound good?"

"Heavenly," Kate replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the exit.

Castle knew a place not too far from their apartment and so they just decided to carry it out and walk back home. On the way, however, Castle seemed to just notice that he lived down the street from a park and grinned madly, changing course and running straight towards it with the pizza in hand as Kate chased after him.

A few minutes later they found themselves side by side on the swings, each with a slice of pepperoni in their hands, looking up at the stars as they ate.

"So what possessed you to jump a fence into a private park in the middle of November to eat pizza on the swings when you've got a perfectly nice and _warm_ apartment just a few hundred yards thataway," Kate asked, pointing in the direction of the loft.

Castle shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'm just delightfully impulsive like that," he replied, cheekily.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't call it deli—"

Castle cut her off with his lips on hers, grinning at the moan that vibrated against his lips.

When he pulled back, she looked slightly dewy-eyed. "You wouldn't?" Castle asked, grinning, getting a glare and a punch in the arm in return before Kate turned back to her pizza.

But he could have sworn that she was smiling as she took her next bite.

**Two chapters in one day! I am on FIRE! The fourth is almost over but we are free every day! Happy Independence Day guys! REVIEWS please! **


	18. Chapter 17

**I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so(x1000000000000) sorry guys! I have had a horrible case of writer's block and I haven't wanted to write anything so please forgive me. I'll try to make this chapter nice and long for you. Enjoy!**

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, when Kate looked in the mirror, she saw something that she hadn't seen in nearly a year on her neck; a hickey. And quite a large one, too. She smiled to herself as she remembered how she got it.

After eating their fill of pizza, Kate and Castle had left the park, carrying what was left of their pizza back in the box, their clasped hands swinging between them as they walked. In the elevator, Castle had practically dropped the box on the floor as he backed her into the corner, his lips practically _attached _to her neck, hands on her hips, making Kate moan as he sucked on her skin. Her hand found its way into his hair and her leg had wound around his waist by the time the doors opened on their floor. But when they did, she practically shoved him away from her, smiling at his confused expression as she scooped up the discarded pizza box and sauntered towards the loft. As she unlocked the door, she turned back to him, grinning.

"You comin', Castle?" she asked, lifting one brow, laughing out loud as he nodded enthusiastically and practically sprinted towards her. As they entered, she placed the box in the spacious fridge and turned to see him staring at her with hooded eyes. She grinned and walked towards him—sashayed, really—grinning seductively, before leaning up and laying her lips gently against his cheek, bringing them up to whisper in his ear.

"Goodnight, Castle," she husked, her grin widening as she felt him shiver slightly. She met his eye briefly before turning and making her way upstairs, secretly hoping that he would.

He hadn't though; he'd kept his distance, as promised, and had stayed downstairs as he watched her ascend the staircase. Kate wondered now if he'd done that had she stayed downstairs with him. Would he have insisted on waiting if she'd initiated another deep, passionate kiss? She liked to think he would, that he desired her so much, but she knew it was probably better this way. Not jumping into bed right away and actually getting to know each other meant that their marriage would most likely be a satisfying one. Kate just hoped they were compatible in that way.

As she brushed her teeth, Kate's eyes kept flitting back to that little bruise on her neck, smiling through the foam as she thought about how Lanie was going to react to it. She figured her best friend would have a few things to say about it—or just one, in the form of a long, loud earth-shattering scream.

When she had finished her morning routine, Kate entered her bedroom to get dressed for the day, picking out a long, light brown cardigan, with a grey shirt underneath, a pair of black leggings and short, loose grey skirt over it, and a pair of flats. She then dug out a white scarf to wrap around her neck and hide her little…_blemish,_ then tied up her hair in a messy bun, grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs, wondering if Castle had gone to calm down Alexis again.

She was almost surprised to see him sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and reading off his tablet. He looked up and smiled as she entered.

"Good morning," he greeted, gaining a smile in return.

"Good morning, Castle," Kate returned, walking towards him and giving him a chaste kiss. Castle tried to deepen it but she moved away, going towards the coffee machine, smiling as she saw he'd already prepared her latte and it was just waiting to be poured. As she poured it, she decided to make conversation. "So, how do you think Alexis's stay at my parents' went last night?" she asked.

"Pretty well," Castle responded, "your mother called about fifteen minutes ago to let me know that she would drop Alexis at daycare on her way to work. She said she slept like a log and even let me say good morning to her."

"Did she look happy?" Kate asked.

"Ecstatic. No nightmares or anything. She said Nana Jo and Papa Jim read her a bedtime story last night. They even acted out all the characters."

Kate grinned. "I remember that," she chuckled. "My dad does the best funny voices, and mom can do any accent she pleases. They're really wonderful parents."

"Even better _grand_parents, it seems," Castle commented. "My own mother can't even keep Alexis asleep all night most days. Heck, I can't even do that." Kate chuckled. "Anyway, would you like some company on your way to school?"

Kate smiled, nodding. "That would be nice, actually."

"Alright," Castle said, standing up, "let's go!" He began making his way towards the door before Kate stopped him, giggling.

"Castle," she said, "I think you might want to get some pants on before you go out…"

Castle's eyes widened and he looked down, having almost forgotten about his stage of dress; he was wearing only his Valentine heart boxers and a plain white t-shirt.

"You know," he said, "I thought I felt a draft. Let me just go find something to wear. I wouldn't want to embarrass you."

Kate laughed. "Impossible," she replied, winking at him.

Castle grinned evilly at her. "Challenge accepted." Kate's eyes widened as raced into his bedroom.

Kate's words came back to really bite her in the ass as she walked down the street with her fiancée.

Castle was wearing a top hat, sunglasses, and a tux—with _tails_—paired with a crazy red, green, and yellow striped tie, and the shiniest black shoes Kate had ever seen. And his _arm _was around her as they walked down the street, leaving no doubt in anyone else's mind who he was with. Kate tried not to blush or act anything other than cool and nonchalant as she walked towards her school with this overgrown nine-year-old who called himself a man.

She thanked god when they finally arrived at the school and she could say goodbye to him, feeling guilty for being embarrassed of him. She kissed him quickly on the lips, not even bothering to protest when he deepened it, but pulling away shortly and smiling up at him.

"Bye, you big goofball," she murmured to him with a smile. Castle grinned back and tipped his hat to her, making her roll her eyes as she turned towards the front of her school, meeting up with Lanie halfway. Her friend was looking over Kate's shoulder as she approached, a confused expression on her face.

Kate handed her one of the lattes she had in her hand—the one she'd grabbed for Lanie last minute, remembering her request—and braced herself for the question that was bound to come her way.

"Is that…?" Lanie asked, accepting the latte gratefully.

"Mmhmm," Kate responded, not turning to look at her boyfriend.

"But why...?"

"Don't ask," Kate said, forcing her friend to turn towards the building and walk with her, "and don't look back." Lanie just shrugged and sipped her latte as they made their way to their first class.

"What's with the scarf?" she asked as they ascended the front steps.

As Kate had suspected, Lanie practically blew out her eardrum with the frequency of her squeal. Kate was still checking her ears as she walked home, her stomach fluttering as she wondered what plans Castle had for that night. And not just for their date, either…

Her heart was still pounding as she stepped into the loft, catching sight of a man who was decidedly _not _Castle as she entered.

The man turned towards her as she opened the door, his blue eyes crinkling as he gave her a warm—and somewhat familiar—smile.

"Ah," he said, "you must be Kate. I'm Richard Castle…Senior. It's very nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot from Martha and Ricky."

Kate smiled, taking the hand he offered and shaking it. "Nice to meet you as well," she replied. "Castle's told me a lot about you, as well."

"All good things, I hope," he replied. Kate nodded.

"Of course," she said, "so where is he?"

"Giving Alexis her bath and failing horribly I'd imagine. My wife is attempting to help. I want nothing to do with it. That kid is just like her father when it comes to bath time; a little devil." Kate chuckled.

"Let me see if I can do anything to help," she said, "I got her to calm down last time." She made her way into the bathroom, grinning as she saw Martha attempting to hold Alexis still as Castle shampooed and rinsed her hair as quickly as he could while the little girl struggled to break free. Castle managed to rinse away all of the soap before she broke free, jumping right out of the tub and running blindly into Kate's legs. Kate laughed as she knelt down in front of her, helping her rub the water from her eyes, smiling as the girls' face brightened upon seeing her soon-to-be-stepmother.

"Kate!" she exclaimed, wrapping her tiny arms around Kate's waist.

"Hey, cutie," Kate replied, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her. "You giving Daddy and Gram a hard time again?" The little girl just giggled and hugged Kate tighter, melting into her warm embrace. Kate rose with her cradled in her arms. Martha was smiling at her and Castle just looked amazed.

"You tamed the wild beast," he gasped. "How did you do that?"

Kate shrugged. "Just magic, I guess," she joked, grinning.

Martha shook her head. "That's not magic, my dear," she said, "_that _is maternal instinct."

"Why don't _you _have that?" Castle asked, receiving a slap on the back of his head for the question. He pouted, making Kate chuckle and shake her head, before she turned and made her way into the bedroom, finding Alexis's clothes laid out on Castle's bed, trying to suppress a shiver as she thought about the fact that she might be spending her night in this very room.

She shook the thoughts off as she dressed Alexis in a simple red sweater and a pair of jeans, drying the little girl's hair with the towel. When she was finished, Alexis beamed up at her and put her arms up as if asking Kate to carry her. Kate complied, immediately, feeling the still slightly damp hair through her own sweater.

"Did you have a nice night with Nana and Papa?" she asked, smiling as the girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Papa Jim is funny!" Alexis giggled. "And Nana Jo is nice."

Kate nodded. "Yeah, I like them too," she said, walking with Alexis into the living room. Castle was sitting at the counter, sipping coffee and talking with his parents. Rick Sr. smiled at his granddaughter.

"Hello, Button!" he boomed and Alexis smiled, practically leaping from Kate's arms and running full force into her grandfather's welcoming arms.

"Pop!" she exclaimed, giggling as he tickled her side, clinging to him tightly.

Rick Sr. laughed, holding her tightly back. "As if she didn't see me just two nights ago."

"Well can you blame her?" Castle asked. "She barely ever gets to see you; you're away so often."

"Richard!" Martha scolded, slapping his arm with her magazine.

"No, no," Rick Sr. said, "it's true, Sweetheart; I haven't been around much because of my career choice, but that's actually about to change now."

"What do you mean?" Castle asked, incredulously.

"Well," Rick Sr. replied, "they've actually decided to take me out of the field. Instead, I'll be training younger…_workers_ upstate in Chappaqua. So I'll still spend most of my days out of Manhattan, but I'll be able to be home every night and every weekend to spend time with my family, I can promise you that. Ricky, I missed your childhood and I'm sorry for that, but I don't want to make the same mistakes with my grandchildren."

Castle smiled. "That's nice to hear, Dad," he replied. "I'm glad you'll be around for Alexis and," he glanced at Kate, who blushed almost immediately, "any other grandchildren that you might get."

Martha beamed. "I hope that will be soon, Darlings!" Kate's blush now filled her face, turning it beet red and Castle just face-palmed.

"Um, I have to go," Kate said, nervously, "upstairs. I have to get ready for our date. It was nice meeting you, Richard Sr." She made a quick exit up the stairs, causing Rick sr. to snort out laughing, Castle to sigh and Martha to look completely baffled.

"What?" she asked, turning to her embarrassed son, then to her amused husband, "Was it something I said?"

**Oh, Martha xD Please REVIEW! Third date is a-coming up!**


	19. Chapter 18

**I thought you guys deserved this for all the great feedback I've been getting! Thank you so much for all your kind words! Now enjoy!**

Chapter Eighteen

When Kate came back down, she was dressed casually in a dark blue hoodie, a pair of skinny jeans, and her converse. Her hair was still up in the messy bun from before. Castle grinned at her, completely forgetting that his parents were still in the room as he walked over to her and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss.

"You look so hot," he murmured as he pulled away. Kate smiled up at him, opening her mouth to respond when she heard another voice from across the room.

"You know we haven't left yet, right?" Martha asked from the foyer, holding Alexis in her arms. The toddler was peeking through the spaces between her fingers, her tongue poked out in disgust. Kate blushed, hiding her face in Castle's neck as he chuckled nervously.

"We'll see you guys at dinner tomorrow," he said, pointedly, "_bye_!"

"Don't you even want to kiss your daughter goodbye?" Martha asked, nodding towards the child in her arms. Castle nodded and walked towards them, leaving Kate standing at the bottom of the stairs. He gave Alexis a million little kisses all over her face before he said goodbye to his parents, telling Alexis to be good for Pop and Gram. Then they were gone.

Castle turned back to Kate with a large grin on his face. "So you ready for a little foreplay?" he asked, causing Kate to snort out a laugh.

"Have you ever played mini-golf?" Castle asked, as they entered the Glow-in-the-Dark Mini Golf Shack on 42nd street.

Kate shook her head. "Nope, but it can't be _too _different from playing regular golf, right?"

"Not really," Castle said, "but here you only get one club and you can't hit as hard. Also, these holes can get pretty rough. So if you need help, just let me know."

"I thought that the point of this 'foreplay' was so that we'd be all competitive and heated up for...other activities," Kate reminded him with a raised eyebrow and a slight blush.

"Right…well, that doesn't mean I can't help you, does it?"

Kate just rolled her eyes, accepting her putter from the man at the front desk. Castle got his and asked for an 18-hole game and two balls. The man nodded and offered the only two golf balls they had left; purple and pink. They both glowed brightly in the black-light room.

Castle and Kate eyed each other before both hands snatched for the purple ball. Kate was victorious and laughed as Castle pouted all the way to the first hole.

"Stop with the sourpuss, Castle," Kate scolded, grinning.

"But I don't like pink," Castle whined. "It's a _girl _color."

Kate sighed. "Hundreds of years late and men _still _think that colors have genders," she grumbled, frowning at him. Castle stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled, shaking her head. "Come on, you big baby," she said. "You're first."

Castle sighed, placing his fluorescent pink ball on the marker and setting up his putter, squinting as he aimed it straight ahead towards the hole. He got it in on his first shot and even did a little victory dance to celebrate. Kate lifted one brow as he practically pranced over to retrieve his ball.

"What," she asked, "was _that?_"

"Victory dance," Castle replied, grinning like a little boy. Kate chuckled, shaking her head, before placing her own ball down.

She, too, got it in one shot, but all she did to celebrate was smile and retrieve her ball, much to Castle's dismay.

"Where's _your _victory dance?" he asked, following her to the second hole.

"I don't want to waste it on such an easy hole," Kate replied, grinning over her shoulder, "don't worry; you'll see it soon enough." She winked at him, stopping at Hole #2.

Castle placed his ball down, surveying the angle of this next shot. The hole was around the corner, which meant that he would need a perfectly angled shot to get it in. He worked out in his mind what that might entail and calculated the perfect angle and force it would take before hitting the ball, holding his breath as it hit the angled wall, flew around the corner and landed less than five inches from the hole. Castle let out his breath in a raspberry, frowning as he followed the ball and set his putter up again, giving it a tiny nudge into the hold.

"Birdie," Kate said, jotting down his score before setting up her own ball. To Castle, it seemed that she needed less preparation, simply hitting the ball at random…almost directly into the hold. Castle's mouth gaped open at the near-perfect shot. The ball had only wavered for a second about ten centimeters away from the hold before falling in. Kate grinned widely, but still did not dance. "Easy shot," she said casually as she retrieved her ball, much to Castle's annoyance.

"Easy my ass," he mumbled, following her once again towards the next hole.

Sixteen holes later found them at the last one, a crowd having gathered behind them due to Kate's nearly perfect game. Castle's, however, was just a few points shy of hers. His only chance of winning this game was a hole in one and Kate getting a hole in four. It wasn't likely.

He also had yet to see her version of a victory dance, which he longed to see at this point. It would be the only upside to her winning. But, still, he tried his best to get a hole in one.

The crowd was silent as Castle lined up his putter, focusing solely on where he needed the ball to go and how he would get it there. Taking a deep breath in, he swing the ball back, before hitting the ball as he let the breath out. The ball sailed smoothly through a long tube, popping out at the other end and flowing through the two bumpers that would have otherwise gotten in the way. Everybody watched, with bated breath, as Castle's ball inched closer and closer to the hole, getting slower and slower as every second went by until finally…it dropped in.

Castle cheered, throwing his arms up and jumping as the crowd burst into applause, receiving pats on the back for a job well done. Kate even gave him a hug, laughing at his mirth.

"Good job, Castle," she said, grinning, "but all I need is a hole in three to tie up the game."

"Good luck with that," Castle said, grinning triumphantly as he tossed his ball up in the air and caught it.

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Kate replied, competitively. Castle chuckled, watching as she bent over to place her ball on the ground, whistling low and making a few men in the crowd chuckle. Kate turned and saw him watching, flipping him off and making a couple of women cheer and laugh. Castle just chuckled, shaking his head.

Kate surveyed the hole, pointing her putter straight towards the tube, before straightening up and positioning it right behind the ball, rearing back and swinging, grimacing as she heard the ball hit the side of it before entering. She shrugged it off; so what if the ball had not gone in as smoothly as Castle's? She still had a chance of getting a hole in one.

Only…her chance diminished as the ball popped out on the other side at a slight angle and bumped into one of the bumpers, halting it. Kate cursed under her breath as she walked up to it, angling her next shot around the bumper and swinging again. It did what she wanted it to—it went around and towards the hole—but stopped just two inches away, causing Kate to curse again. She shrugged as she took one last small swing, knocking the ball in as the crowd cheered.

It was a tie. Castle grinned, fist-pumping the air and doing his little dance. Kate laughed and joined him, doing a little dance of her own, shaking her hips and waving her arms to silent music as she moved towards him. When Castle noticed her, he laughed but kept on dancing with her.

"Why are you dancing?" he asked. "You didn't win!"

"So?" Kate replied, grinning. "I tied, which is even better!"

"How so?" Castle asked as he stopped dancing.

Kate grinned, leaning up to whisper in his ear. "Because, now, we get to do a tie-breaker," she replied, grinning naughtily, before sauntering away. She retrieved her ball from the hole and picked up her club, before turning back to the dark-eyed and slack-jawed Castle. "You coming, Castle?" she asked, grinning.

Castle grinned back, nodding enthusiastically as he hastened to follow her out, his heart racing as he thought about what was to come.

**REVIEWS!**


	20. Chapter 19

**I'm baaaccckkkkk! And my internet is down right now because my dumb little sister placed the router on top of the broadband thingy and everything overheated, but I'm here and I'm writing. Just in case it doesn't get updated tonight, I'm starting this on July 19****th****, 2013, as promised. Enjoy!**

Chapter Nineteen

The entire cab ride back to the loft was charged with so much tension that Kate could barely breathe. She and Castle had left the mini-golf place immediately after trading their putters and golf balls in for prizes (a small harmonica for Castle and a slinky for Kate), catching the cab right in front and shuffling in. They stayed on either end of the taxi, neither wanting to get too carried away. Their hands brushed occasionally between them, but for the most part, they were as separate as two human beings could be.

The same went for the elevator ride up from the lobby to the top floor. They stayed on opposite ends of the large elevator, sharing glances every now and again. When the doors opened, they practically sprinted to the loft, Castle pulling out his keys as he went, unlocking the door right away before turning and pulling Kate towards him as he backed into the apartment.

They're lips connected as he backed her into the door, pushing her against it with his body as his hands roamed hers. Kate moaned into his mouth, her own arms wrapped loosely around his shoulder as one of her legs wrapped around his waist, groaning as he ground his hips into hers.

"Castle," she moaned against his lips, "bedroom…"

Castle pulled back, panting as his dark blue eyes gazed into hers. "Yours or…mine?" he panted.

"Yours is closer," Kate replied, just as breathless. "_Much _closer."

Castle nodded, reattaching their lips as he reached down, cupped her ass and pulled her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist. Castle growled against her lips as she began to rub herself against him.

"Stop that," he huffed against her lips, "or I'm going to drop you." Kate chuckled against his lips, nipping the bottom one, but she stopped immediately, keeping her hips still as he walked her towards his bedroom.

The second they entered, he closed the door with her body…again. Shoving her against the hard oak door roughly, he attacked her neck, licking and sucking, leaving more than just one mark on her delicate skin. Kate, for her part, didn't exactly leave his skin unmarred. Her hands found their way underneath his shirt, her nails digging in and leaving deep scratch marks that made Castle groan into her neck.

Suddenly, however, she was pushing him away from her body, dropping to her feet as she watched him stumble backwards and fall back onto his bed, looking thoroughly confused. Kate smiled predatorily at him as she walked forward, unzipping her hoodie slowly and pulling it off her body, revealing the tight camisole she was wearing underneath. She caught Castle swallowing heavily as his eyes locked on her chest.

"Like what you see, Castle?" she asked, grinning naughtily. Castle nodded dumbly, his eyes wide and pupils dark as he reached out for her. Kate backed away from him, shaking her head. "Nuh-uh," she said, grinning, "not until you remove something of yours."

Castle immediately tossed his own jacket to the side, looking back at her expectantly.

"Your turn," he said, cheekily. Kate grinned, crossing her arms as she reached for the hem of her shirt, pulling it up slowly to reveal inch by inch of her naked belly until it came right underneath her breasts. She stayed that way for a couple of moments until Castle broke.

"Come _on,_" he practically whined, pouting at her. Kate chuckled, grinning evilly at him.

"How much do you want it, Castle?" she asked, huskily. Castle's eyes widened.

"So much," he breathed, biting his fist.

"Prove it," Kate sighed, her eyes twinkling. Within seconds, Castle was on her, his lips attacking hers as he tugged the camisole up and off of her body, groaning at the tight bandeau covering her chest. He wasted no time in ripping it off, cutting off Kate's protests with his tongue.

"I'll buy you more," he panted against her lips, grinning against them as he felt her growl against his, her hand moving to the hem of his t-shirt, tugging it up and over his head, moving to kiss and nip his chest, licking a trail over all of his muscles, groaning as his hands cupped her breasts. She groaned his name as he took her left nipple between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing it slightly. Kate's hips bucked into his, causing them both to moan. Castle removed Kate's mouth from his chest, cupping her cheeks and bringing her lips up to his, kissing her hungrily as he backed into the bed, pulling her down on top of him.

Kate landed with a knee on either side of his hips, her pelvis landing right atop of his, causing Castle to call out in ecstasy. Kate grinned down at him, moving her hips back and forth over him, making Castle grind back as he pressed her hips down with his hands, his head rising to take one of her breasts in his mouth. Kate moaned, arching her back to press her breasts further against him.

Castle showered her breasts with openmouthed kisses, making good use of his tongue and teeth, turning her into a moaning mess above him until she could barely hold herself up above him.

"Castle," she gasped, "no more…please…I need you…NOW."

Castle nodded, turning them over so that he was above her, kissing a trail down her shirt until he got to the hem of her jeans, undoing the button and zipper within seconds and beginning to wrestle her out of them. It wasn't easy.

"Jesus Christ," Castle cursed, "how the hell do you even get these things _on_?"

"Getting them on isn't the problem right now, Castle," Kate retorted, wriggling her hips, trying to help out as much as possible.

Finally, after much work, he pulled them off of her, peeling them down her legs and taking her shoes with them, tossing them over his shoulder as his eyes roamed over her body, eying the tiny scrap of lace she had over her…private bits. Kate grinned up at him.

"Like what you see, Castle?" she asked. He nodded, he eyes never wavering as he began to unbuckle his belt. Kate sat up and placed her hands over his. "Let me," she said softly, kissing his belly as she continued where he left off, quickly undoing his belt and pulling it out, discarding it somewhere to the right before going back to unzip his jeans.

As she pulled down his jeans, she couldn't keep her eyes off the straining bulge underneath his boxers, licking her lips unconsciously, causing Castle to groan.

"Don't tease me like that," he growled. Kate looked up, confused.

"Like what?" she asked, genuinely. Castle just shook his head.

"Never mind," he said, before kicking off his pants and shoes, toeing off his socks and kicking them away, then leaning forward to capture her mouth in a searing kiss as he pushed her back down onto the bed, running his hands down her body until he reached the string of her thong. Kate gasped.

"Don't break these," she breathed, "they're my favorite." Castle nodded, pulling them slowly down her legs, spreading kisses over her thighs and calves until he discarded them, before making his way back up to her lips, which he kissed sweetly.

Kate helped him remove his boxers, pushing them down with her hands before switching to her feet to get them off the rest of the way. The second that they were gone, she reached down to take him into her hand, causing Castle to groan into her neck.

"Stop…that," he growled, "or else this will be over too soon."

"Are you…?"

Castle nodded. "I'm on the pill and I've had my shots. You?" Kate nodded and Castle reached down to feel her, moaning at the tight wet feel of her.

"Oh God, you're wet," he groaned in her ear. Kate smiled, nodding. "You ready?" Castle asked, looking deep into her eyes. Kate nodded, leaning up to kiss him as he plunged into her.

Kate cried out at the feeling of being so completely filled, her arms winding tightly around his back. Castle stayed still for a couple of moments to let her adjust before she began to move her own hips against him, encouraging him to move.

He moved slowly at first, trying to get used to the tight feeling, like nothing he'd ever felt before, trying to make it last as long as possible, but Kate kept urging him to go faster, harder.

"Kate," he finally gasped out, "I'm not gonna last much longer if I keep that up."

"Neither am I," she gasped in his ear. "I'm so close, Castle. Just…please!"

Castle got the message, pumping harder and faster into her, making her call out his name as her nails left long scratches down the length of his back and her legs wrapped tightly around him. Castle's mouth latched onto one of her breasts, trying to increase her pleasure as he pounded into her, willing her to come before him. After a couple of minutes, she finally did, screaming out his name as he pumped into her. Castle came just seconds after, groaning her name into her chest as he emptied himself into her.

Kate smiled against his neck as he collapsed against her, running her fingers through his hard and holding him against her as she nibbled his ear, both of them panting and sweaty, pressed against each other.

They were both silent as Castle moved to lie next to her, pulling her against his chest while their bodies cooled. Kate smiled up at him, her green eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

"Wow," she breathed against his chest.

"Yeah," Castle breathed back. "I'm starving."

**Way to kill the mood, Castle…xD REVIEWS please!**


	21. Chapter 20

**I'm baaaack! Miss me? I know you did! Enjoy! **

**Also, to explain for last chapter's pill and shot talk: In this reality, men take birth control (because it makes more sense to me) and you can get shots to protect against all STD's. Medicine is pretty advanced here.**

Chapter Twenty

Less than an hour later, they lay in bed, sharing take-out boxes of General Tsao's chicken, Lo Mein, fried rice, and mini egg rolls. Kate had slapped him for his earlier proclamation of hunger after their…intimate encounter. But then her own stomach had grumbled and she rolled her eyes, slipping on his t-shirt and walking out to the kitchen to retrieve a menu and call for dinner. Castle's eyes had been glued to her ass the entire time.

"Eyes off the prize, Castle," she'd called back without even looking at him. "At least until we have something to eat first." Castle had laughed at that, waiting until she'd gotten back to the bedroom before responding.

"Actually," he said, pulling her to his still naked bed, "I could do with a little appetizer…" his eyes darkened as he caught her unimpressed gaze.

"Do you think you're quite _up _to it?" Kate replied, glancing down pointedly. Castle gave her a predatory grin.

"Oh, I think that shouldn't be a problem for what I'm planning," he replied, capturing her mouth with his as his hand disappeared under the hem of his shirt.

He'd had Kate in a satisfied puddle on the bed by the time the food arrived and he'd served it to her as if she were a queen, earning a sexy grin in return as he leaned down to kiss her. When their lips parted, she'd sighed.

"A girl could get used to this," she said, chuckling as she dug into the chicken.

"Good," Castle said, "because I spoil all of my girls rotten." At Kate's raised eyebrow, he began to backtrack. "I mean Alexis and Meredith!" he insisted, "I swear!"

Kate chuckled. "Castle, relax," she said, patting his arm, "I know what you meant. Besides, I'm not the type to get jealous about whoever you shared your life with before. It doesn't matter now." She smiled reassuringly at him and he leaned in for another kiss before digging into the rice in his lap.

They lay there silently eating for a while before Kate finally spoke. "Castle, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, I do work out," Castle replied cheekily.

Kate rolled her eyes. "About your _books_?"

Castle nodded. "Of course," he replied.

"Where…do you…how do you….write romance in your novels?" she asked, stuttering slightly.

Castle shrugged. "It's not that hard," he said. "Not when you're good at writing and you're a pretty avid reader. Any 20th century writer you look at has a pretty good knack for romance. Except Hemingway. I mean, A Farewell to Arms was pretty good but did she _have _to…you know? Wait, have you read that one yet? I don't want to spoil it."

Kate chuckled. "Yes, I've read it and I agree, but they had a pretty good love story before that. But I just meant that most of those writers actually experienced it before they wrote about it."

"What? Love?" Castle asked. Kate nodded.

"Yeah. That's what made it so convincing and…realistic. But now…nobody falls in love anymore; it doesn't exist. So how can you write about something that doesn't exist anymore?"

Castle turned to her. "Do you really believe that?" he asked.

"Don't you?" she shot back.

Castle shrugged. "Not really…I mean, that's what I've been told all my life; true love doesn't exist. But then I see all these married couples and some of them seem to really dislike each other or just barely tolerate one another, but then other ones…like my parents and yours; they really seem to like one another. Sometimes, when I look at my mother and father, I think they might actually…_love _one another. So, yes, I do believe that love is still out there. It can't have disappeared completely, right?"

Kate smiled softly, nodding, before her eyes shot open. "Wait," she said, "_my _parents? How do you figure?"

Castle shrugged. "It's just in the way they look at each other, I guess. Your dad's eyes always seem to…sparkle when he looks at your mom. And your mom…she does that little eye-rolling thing that you do when he makes a corny joke, but then she smiles—_really _smiles—and you can just see it…she really cares about him. That's what I call love. Don't you agree?"

Kate listened to what he said with a soft smile on her face, but as soon as he looked at her, the smile went away, only to be replaced by a look of uncertainty. "I don't know," she admitted. "I'd like to believe that it still exists, that you can feel something that strongly for another person, but how can I? How can I believe something like that when we live in a society that forces us to marry complete strangers just so we won't have population problem. How can I believe that there's somebody out there meant for me if I'm not even allowed to go out and look for them?"

"Maybe," Castle said, shyly, "you don't have to look very far to find exactly what you're looking for…" Kate's eyes widened at that and she looked up at him. Castle, however, refused to meet her eye. She reached out, cupping his chin, and moved his head to face her, smiling softly at him.

"Maybe," she said, softly. "But we'll just have to wait and see." Castle smiled down at her and leaned down to capture her lips in a passionate kiss, pulling her body towards his as he carefully placed the carton of rice on his bedside table. Kate did the same with the chicken, allowing him to pull her into his lap, gasping as she straddled him, rising above him and smiling as his lips followed hers.

Within minutes the boxers he'd been wearing and her shirt were shed as they settled in for round two. And three.

Then they fell asleep tangled in each other's embrace, Kate's head tucked comfortably under Castle's chin and their empty food cartons forgotten as they fell into a deep slumber…

"Richard! Darling, we're here!" Martha's voice floated through the loft, rousing her sleeping son and his fiancé. Castle's eyes widened as he sat straight up, looking at the clock, cursing to himself.

"Kate!" he hissed, shaking her sleeping form gently. Kate moaned, slapping his hand away.

"Tired," she mumbled, rolling onto her stomach.

"Kate," he tried again, "my parents are here and I'm sure yours aren't far behind!"

That caused her to jump up, nearly falling off the bed before Castle had a chance to catch her. He helped her up, gathering up all of her clothes for her and helping her into them. Kate dressed quickly as Castle did the same, taking out a pair of sweatpants and an old wife-beater to change into before turning to Kate.

"How do I look?" he asked.

"Like you just had a night of wild sex with your fiancé," she replied, sarcastically.

Castle grinned. "Well, I wouldn't call it wild…"

"Castle, just shut up and help me get out of here without being seen!"

"What? Why?"

"Because your parents are here and as far as they know, we have separate bedrooms?"

"So? We're _engaged_, Kate. Sooner or later, they're going to expect us to have sex. They know how Alexis got here only three months after my wedding after all."

"I don't care, Castle," Kate hissed. "I don't want them finding out like this! Just…help me get upstairs without them seeing!"

"How?"

"_Distract them!"_

**That looks like a nice place to stop. Yes, I am evil and I do plan on ruling the world. Please REVIEW!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Midnight writing binge! Let's hope I don't crash halfway through it!**

Chapter Twenty One

Kate practically shoved Castle out of the room so hard that he nearly landed on his face but he caught himself just in time, grinning nervously at his parents and his daughter, who were all standing around the kitchen, preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Martha was chopping vegetables as Richard Sr. prepared candied yams and Alexis sat on the counter, popping marshmallows into her mouth.

Martha barely even blinked at his odd entrance. "Good morning, Richard dear," she greeted, not looking away from her vegetables. "Did you and Katherine have a nice night out?"

"Uh, yeah," Castle said, nodding, "you could say that. It was great, actually. We went to that glow-in-the-dark mini golf place downtown. You know the one."

Richard Sr. smiled, nodding. "Oh, I remember," he said, "You and I would spend hours there, trying to best each other. You always won."

"That's because you always _let _me win," Castle reminded him.

"You can't prove that," Sr. replied, grinning, before taking the bag of marshmallows gently out of his granddaughter's hands. "That's enough sugar for right down, Button," he said. "We don't need you going on a Castle sugar rush; made famous by your own father."

"Hey!" Castle whined. "I resent that!" Sr. chuckled, turning towards the oven to place the yams in. While he and Martha were occupied with their preparation of the food and Alexis was distracted trying to figure out how to get the marshmallows back in her possession, Castle motioned for Kate to come out.

She zipped past him, her steps light and silent as she raced towards the stairs, reaching the landing just as Martha looked up at Castle.

"Well," she said, "what are you waiting for? Start doing something! We have guests arriving soon. Kate," she called out, just as Kate began tiptoeing up the stairs, "Darling, when are your parents arriving with the turkey?"

Kate's eyes widened and she looked at Castle, who was looking heavenward, sighing deeply. She stayed silent.

"Darling," Martha said, "I know you're there. Now, answer the question please."

Castle gave her a look that said it was futile to pretend otherwise so Kate sighed and replied, "They'll be here in about half an hour," she said, finally.

"Alrighty then!" Martha said, cheerfully, before returning to her vegetables. Kate's face was beet red as she continued the rest of the way up the stairs, cursing to herself as she made her way up to her room.

Castle, for his part, was able to tamp down his embarrassment and help his father peel the mashed potatoes, ever aware of the smirks both his parents were sending him.

As promised, Johanna and Jim arrived within half an hour, toting a large pan with an even larger turkey and a pumpkin pie.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Johanna greeted when Martha opened the door. "I'm Johanna, Kate's mother, and this is my husband, Jim; her father."

Jim smiled in greeting. "Hello, Mrs. Castle," he greeted.

"Oh, please!" Martha said, blushing. "Call me Martha. And this is my husband, Richard, Sr."

The men nodded at each other in greeting and Sr. reached out to shake Johanna's hand, which she politely accepted, before being shown further into the apartment.

"Wow," Johanna breathed as she looked around, dropping the pie on the counter, "this place is gorgeous…and so _big_!"

Martha chuckled. "Isn't it, though? I'm so proud of him; he worked so hard and it paid off so very young."

"It most certainly did," Johanna agreed. "I'm very glad that our Katie has somebody like him in her life. They seem to really be getting along, don't you think."

_If only you knew how much,_ Martha though cheekily. She nodded.

"Would you like help preparing that for the oven?" she asked, motioning towards the turkey.

"Yes, please," she replied, helping her husband set it down on top of the stove.

"Don't let her touch the bird," Castle warned Johanna, "or we'll all get food poisoning."

Martha shot him a glare and Johanna chuckled. "I'm sure we'll all be fine, Rick," she laughed. "By the way, where's Katie?"

"She'll be down soon," Castle said, "I think she just wanted to take a shower and all that first. Do you have any idea when the boys and Lanie will be here?"

"They should be here around one," Johanna informed him, removing the lid from the turkey pan and preheating the oven. "Their parents are all joining us as well, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," Castle insisted. "The more the merrier!"

"Okay, this is too many people," Castle whispered to Kate as he surveyed the room.

Lanie and Esposito had shown up with their families first. On Espo's side, he only had his mother and older brother—who also had a wife. But on Lanie's side, she had a sister, a brother, three nephews, a niece, and her parents. Then Ryan had shown up and it turned out that he was the baby of the family. His three older sisters all had husbands and kids of their own, all ranging from six months to eight years, which made for a lot of screaming kids. Alexis seemed to be having fun playing with them all, but Castle was astounded at how many people he'd admitted into his home.

"You let them in, Castle," Kate reminded him, grinning knowingly. Castle glared at her but she just kept on grinning, looking sexy in the simple black frock she was wearing with matching black boots and a gold belt around her waist. Castle wanted nothing more than to drag her into the nearest bedroom or bathroom and have his way with her…again.

But there were literally kids in every single corner and he doubted any of them would knock when encountering a door and he had removed most of the locks for Alexis's safety. So it would have to wait.

Castle looked at his watch for the tenth time in the last half hour, willing time to go faster so they could all leave and he would have his nice, peaceful loft with his drop-dead gorgeous fiancée and his perfect little angel of a daughter. As it was, it was already going on five o'clock, they'd eaten dinner and dessert and now everybody was just hanging around, watching the game and making small talk, while Kate stood so close he could smell her, his fingers itching for him to reach out and touch her.

"Soon," she whispered in his ear as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. She gave him a naughty smile as she went over to Patti, Kevin's eldest sister, to coo over her baby daughter, shooting Castle a wink over her shoulder.

Castle groaned. "I don't think I'm gonna make it," he mumbled to himself, his bottom lip sticking out as he cursed the cruelty of the world.

**REVIEWS please!**

**Also, go to FictionPress where I have a new ORIGINAL mystery story. I'm Cassie Bones there too and the story is The Gumshoe. Tell me what you think!**


	23. Chapter 22

**Sorry it's taken me so long to do this but I've been distracted and trying to catch up some of my more neglected works. Enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty Two

The party was starting to die down as all the children who had been running around like wild animals began to lose energy and were just calmly sitting around. A few were playing with Alexis's dolls in the corner but the little girl herself was rifling through her bookshelves for something, pulling out a book with a wide grin before toddling over to Kate, who was seated on the couch, talking to Patti and her husband, Steven. Alexis waited patiently for Kate to notice her and when she did, Alexis held up the book, signifying that she wanted Kate to read to her.

Kate nodded, standing up and taking Alexis's hand, leading her into the study, which was much quieter, and sitting down on one of the big easy chairs Castle had in there, with Alexis snuggled into her side. A few of the other children had spotted the pair going in there and followed, peeking in the door as Kate began to read.

"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a small village, nestled between two tall mountains, and, in this village, humans lived peacefully with ferocious dragons." A couple of Lanie's nephews came in with two of Kevin's own, taking seats on the floor in front of Kate. Kate smiled down at them and kept on reading.

"Dragons were guardians," she read on, "and pets and friends to the villagers. They provided means of safe travel to neighboring villages and, in return, were treated as equals. Yes, all dragons lived in peace with the humans. That is," she read, "except for one." She turned the page. "They called him Chernobog; after the god of darkness, evil, and grief. Chernobog was an ill-tempered beast if there ever was one. From a young age, he refused to befriend any human and called his fellow dragons fools for doing such. He did not like humans, nor trust that any of them were truly good and after being outnumbered by his peers, decided to leave the village on his own and live alone on the mountain to the East, vowing never to return." She showed them the picture of Chernobog, his black scales and mean green eyes making him seem alive. He lay nestled in a large cave atop one of the mountains. The children's eyes were wide as they took in the picture. Kate turned the page.

"Years passed," she read, "and Chernobog stayed on top of the mountain, glaring down at the foolish dragons and their foolish human friends. He threw fireballs at them whenever they passed by on a journey, but his peers deflected them with fireproof skin, much to his annoyance. Meanwhile, the village continued to go on, living almost in ignorance of Chernobog's nest up above. Aside from the awful stories they would tell of him; most of which were lies about him coming down to attack the village in fits of rage. Most of the children—and many of the adults—lived in paralyzing fear of Chernobog and instructed everyone else to avoid passing the East mountain on their journeys.

"There was, however, one small child; a girl named Rose." Kate showed them the picture of a small girl with bright blue eyes and short brown hair, smiling brightly ahead. "Rose was known throughout the village for her kind nature and her belief that all of earth's creatures, even those who seemed outwardly foul, had the potential to be good and even shared with the rest of her fellow villagers that she thought even Chernobog would prove good and kind if given the chance. For this, the villagers laughed at her, calling her a naïve little child and reminding her of the stories about the loathed dragon. Rose paid them no mind, however, and insisted that Chernobog was really kind at heart, offering to prove it to them. Her mother, upon hearing this, forbade her from leaving the village, threatening instant death if she were to even go near such a horrible creature.

"Rose promised her mother that she would not go near him, her fingers crossed behind her back." The children all gasped, their eyes widening and Kate grinned at their shocked faces. "That night, Rose put on her heavy black cloak to fight off the nightly chill and snuck out of her home, making her way east towards the mountain. It took her half of the night to scale the mountain all the way to the top, but it would have taken much longer, she supposed, if she'd bothered to bring any food or weapons. She didn't want to seem like she was there for a fight, though, so she'd left all at home. Rose reached the dragon's cave just before sunrise, just in time to see the beast's eyes open as he woke to greet the day." Kate turned the page. "Chernobog's eyes opened slowly, blinking twice as he took in the world around him. It took him only a moment to notice the small girl standing not ten feet from where his head lay, her posture straight and unafraid. His eyes narrowed at her and he was on his feet in seconds, angry smoke billowing out of his nose." Kate showed them the picture and noticed more children starting to filter in, the others catching them up with the story.

"'_What_,' he growled, 'are _you _doing in _my _cave?'

"Rose was only slightly frightened by his menacing tone, but she took a deep breath and began to speak. 'Mr. Chernobog,' she began, 'excuse the intrusion, but I…I have a question for you and I would like the chance to ask it, if I may.' Chernobog's eyes narrowed to angry slits.

"'You may _not_!' he roared, 'I do not answer to _any _human! Now leave my home this _instant_!' he ordered, but Rose stood her ground.

"'I will not leave,' she said, stubbornly, 'until I have the answer to my question and the only one in this entire world that can give me this answer is you, Sir. So I am not leaving.'

"Chernobog's eyes widened at her defiance; no human had ever stood up to him before; not even those much larger than she! He found his defenses dropping at once, startling even himself. Shaking them off, he forced another glare at her.

"'Very well,' he grumbled, 'if that is the only way you will leave; what is your question?' He knew that she knew that if he hurt her in any way, both dragons and humans alike would come from the village to kill him for his violence; all they needed was a reason—a _real _reason.

"Rose cleared her throat before speaking. 'My question is,' she said, 'why? Why do you hate humans so much? Have you been hurt by one?'

"'I said _one question_!' he roared at her, angrily.

"Rose didn't flinch. 'It is one question,' she assured him, 'I would just like a very specific answer. Why do you hate us all so much? What have we done to you to deserve so much hate?'

"Chernobog opened his mouth to retort, before closing it again, realizing, for the first time that he did not have a definitive answer for that question. Taking something off the top of his head, he tried to sound convincing as he answered. 'You know what they say about _your _kind?' he growled. 'They're _brutes_! They start wars and hurt each other; they could hurt any of us at any kind; they have done it in the past!' As soon as the words left his lips, Chernobog knew that his argument was weak and, even worse, he knew that Rose, herself, knew it.

"'Dear Chernobog,' Rose began, 'you must not hold a grudge against what certain humans have done in the past when those who live around you have never harmed one of your kind or one another. The humans you are talking about—those who have committed truly heinous and vile acts of violence—do not exist anymore. However, the ones that do exist, the villagers, for instance, are very much alive and very kind if you just give them the chance.' Chernobog was skeptic.

"'Really?' he said, 'you really expect me to believe _that_? You must take me for a fool, little human girl, but I am most certainly _not _a fool.'

"'I don't believe you to be,' Rose insisted, 'I am just saying that maybe you should see with your own eyes instead of believing everything you read in books. After all, I did.'

"That last sentence broke Chernobog's resolve and he nodded, agreeing to follow Rose back down to the village, if only to see for himself if what he read was true. Allowing her to climb on his back, Chernobog flew them both down to the village, coming to a rest in the center just as the villagers began to emerge from their homes. Many were scared at the sight of him, running straight back into their homes to hide. Others grabbed the nearest weapon they could find, shielding themselves and their loved ones with them. Rose's mother spotted her on the beast's back and she cried out for her child. Rose turned to her mother as she slid off Chernobog's back.

"'I'm alright, Mother!' she insisted. 'Mr. Chernobog has not harmed me in any way, nor will he harm any of you if you just put down your weapons, I promise!' At her sincerity, weapons began to lower, before being dropped completely, yet the villagers still kept a safe distance from the black beast. Rose noticed the tension in the air and attempted to clear it. 'Mr. Chernobog has come down with me to see for himself how kind and courteous human beings are and how unlike our ancestors, we will _not_ attempt to harm him or his brethren in any way. I want to prove to him like I want to prove to you, that all creatures are capable of kindness, no matter who says otherwise. Will you all help me in proving this?' Her eyes pleaded with all the inhabitants of the village, most of whom still looked skeptical.

"But then, one after another, the men, women, children, and dragons of the village began to greet Chernobog, kindly, forgetting all tall tales they had heard about him and treating him as an old friend. Chernobog was surprised, to say the very least, that his readings had proven false and greeted them back, nervously at first, but then beginning to smile and laugh with all the rest. Rose, meanwhile, was embraced by her mother, who scolded her for lying and sneaking out but still hugged her tighter than ever. When she pulled away, Rose apologized, promising never to do it again as she looked towards Chernobog, who was laughing with his new friends. And as sorry as Rose was for disobeying her mother, she couldn't be happier with the choices she'd made. The end."

Kate closed the book with a smile as she looked down and saw Alexis snoozing with her head on her chest. She looked towards the rest of the children, many sleeping and others falling asleep, their bodies lying atop one another in tangled heaps. Kate grinned as she put the book aside, gathering Alexis in her arms like an infant and rocking her slightly.

"Hey," a voice whispered from the doorway. Kate glanced up to see a grinning Castle, leaning against the door. "What, did you kill them?" he asked, causing her to snort. She held up the book and he nodded in understanding. "The Girl Who Tamed the Dragon," he said, in recognition, "that's a good one. Anyway, most of the parents are ready to leave now and they were wondering where most of their kids disappeared to. Guess now I can tell them, huh?"

Kate nodded, rolling her eyes and Castle leaned back out of the door. "There in here," he stage-whispered, and within minutes all of Lanie and Ryan's relatives began picking up their children, thanking Kate for putting them to sleep as they carried them out, one by one. The older children were woken and made to walk out holding their parents' hands, all waving goodbye to Kate. Kate waved back, with a sweet smile, telling them all to have a good night as she stood with Alexis in her arms, handing her over to Castle, who exchanged a kiss for his daughter. Kate smiled into his lips before allowing him to take his little girl upstairs for bed.

When Kate entered the living room, only her parents, the Castles, Lanie and Esposito were left, Ryan having helped carry his nephews to the car. Lanie and Espo were helping her parents clean the kitchen while Martha and Sr. were putting away leftovers in the fridge. Kate decided to pick up the discarded juice boxes, plates, and cups around the living room, bringing them to the sink to be washed later, when she had more energy.

By the time they were all done, the sink looked like Mount Everest and each person had two or three containers of food to bring home, even though the fridge was still bursting with more.

Lanie made her way over to Kate before getting ready to leave, hugging her best friend, tightly. "You've had sex," Lanie surprised Kate by whispering in her ear, "and I want details tomorrow over Black Friday shopping." When she pulled back, she was looking as innocent as ever. Kate rolled her eyes.

"Maybe," she said, conversationally, "but I just have to see what Castle wants to do for Black Friday. He might need somebody to watch Alexis."

"That's where _we _come in," Martha said, "Rick and I always watch Alexis for Richard on Black Friday. We'll be here at around six AM, after our morning jog, so you ladies can leave as early as you'd like. You could leave now, I bet, and catch some of the earlier sales."

Kate chuckled. "That's okay; I think I'll just wait until tomorrow. I am _beat_! Tomorrow at six? I'll make the coffee."

"Deal," Lanie replied, grinning as she hugged her friend goodbye. "I expect many dirty details she whispered in her friend's ear and Kate rolled her eyes again, pulling back.

"See you tomorrow, Lanie. Bye, Espo!" she called to the pile of containers with legs as he was led out by his fiancé. He grumbled a goodbye in return and then they were gone.

"Well, we ought to be off, as well," Martha said, throwing her arms around Kate as she hugged her tightly. "Have a nice night, Darling," she said, kissing her cheek. "We'll see you in the morning, alright?"

Kate nodded. "Alright," she said, accepting a hug and kiss on the cheek from Richard Senior, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Her parents were next, giving her bone-crushing hugs and sloppy kisses before leaving her all alone on the first floor of the loft.

"Hey, gorgeous," Castle's voice startled her, causing her to turn around. He was at the bottom of the stairs, smiling predatorily at her. Kate smiled back, slinking towards him.

"Hey, hot stuff," she purred, leaning up to kiss him. Castle moaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her back towards his bedroom. "Castle," she panted, breaking off the kiss, "wait. I have to…I have to get my clothes for tomorrow…"

"What?" Castle asked, confused. "Why?"

"So Martha and your dad…don't know that we…"

"That we what? Sleep together? Kate, they already know."

Kate's eyes popped open. "_What_?"

**REVIEWS!**


	24. Chapter 23

**New update! Enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty Three

"You _told _her?" Kate hissed, looking both irate and embarrassed at the same time. Castle shook his head.

"Not…exactly," he said, grimacing. "She sort of…figured it out for herself."

Kate's eyes widened at that. "H-how?" she croaked. She thought they'd been so careful.

"Mother's Inuition?" Castle guessed and Kate narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know, Kate. She pulled me aside a couple of hours ago and congratulated me on taking the next step with you. She didn't say exactly _how _she knew, but somehow she did and she does now and do we really need to go over this right now because we could both be naked and doing _very _naughty things to each other but instead we're talking and I'd rather be doing something more worthwhile with my lips…" he gave her a saucy smile and Kate rolled her eyes.

"You are such a child," she said, trying not to grin.

"If I'm a child," Castle said, "then you're a pedophile and I'll be damned if I'm gonna stand here and let a pervert insult me. If you need me, I'll be in _our _bedroom." He winked at her over his shoulder before pretending to stomp away. Kate chuckled, watching him go and shaking her head before catching up with him. Castle was barely past the threshold before he was attacked from behind. Kate literally jumped on his back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, her lips attacking his neck.

Castle chuckled, reaching behind him to cup her ass. "As much as I like having you wrapped around me, I don't think you're doing it right," he joked. Kate chuckled, leaning forward so that her lips were right next to his ear.

"Then make it right," she whispered, huskily. Castle shivered, before shaking Kate off of him. Kate fell to her feet just one millisecond before being picked up again and shoved against the wall, Castle's body covering hers as his hands cradled her head and cupped her ass, softening the blow…but only slightly. Kate didn't even bother to protest, however, as Castle's mouth covered hers in the next instant, causing her to moan as he nipped her bottom lip, her hands running through his hair as his lips assaulted hers.

Castle's hips practically slammed into hers, making them both moan and want for more. He lifted her, helping her wrap her legs around his waist before carrying over to the large, king-sized bed and laying her down, his lips never leaving hers as he began divesting her of her clothing.

By the time they were both blissfully naked, Kate was nearing the edge and Castle had to take a few moments to compose himself before going any further. It was harder said than done once he caught Kate's eye, her normally dark green eyes now brown with lust, her cheeks flushed bright pink, and her hair in disarray. The sight made Castle throb and he decided in that moment, that he was done with waiting. He pounced.

Kate squealed as Castle landed on his hands and knees above her body, his large build crowding her into the bed. Castle smiled predatorily down at her before leaning in to capture her lips with his, causing Kate to moan into the kiss. When he pulled back, Kate's eyes were glazed over with lust and she involuntarily lifted her head to follow his lips, causing Castle to laugh. Kate glared up at him but it wasn't as effective as she would have liked, especially since all Castle had to do to rid her of it was push his hips into hers, his hardness brushing against her center. Kate gasped, her back arching slightly.

"Do it again," she breathed, her eyes boring into his. Castle grinned down at her and moved his hips again, making her gasp and himself moan. "Oh God, Castle," she sighed, her nails digging into his shoulders. "Please. Now."

Castle nodded, taking a deep breath as he entered her slowly, gritting his teeth as he tried to keep this from ending embarrassingly quickly. When he was fully sheathed in her, he let out his breath, trying to relax himself.

"Castle?" Kate breathed. "Move…"

"One minute," he groaned. "Just give me one minute." Kate nodded in understanding, stroking his hair as she waited for him.

Finally, Castle was in control enough to give an experimental thrust, causing Kate to gasp out in surprise. He grinned cheekily down at her and she glared up at him, pulling at his ear.

"Agh! Apples! Apples!" Castle called out, wincing. Kate chuckled, leaning up to kiss him as she caressed his ear, her hips lifting to bump against his, making them both shiver.

"Castle," she moaned, "please…don't make me wait any more."

Castle growled, thrusting into her again, making her groan as they started a slow rhythm. Kate's teeth latched onto his shoulder as he quickened his pace slightly, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist in an effort to be as close to him as possible. Her fingernails were still digging into his back as he pumped harder, her back arching so that their chests were pressed together.

"Come on," he mumbled in her ear, "come on, Kate. Come for me; come on!" Kate gasped, her eyes locking on his as she felt herself go over, groaning his name into his ear, before stilling.

Castle paused, allowing her to come back down from her high as he delayed his own gratification, just gazing down at her peaceful and flushed form. Suddenly, Kate's eyes popped open and narrowed at him, catching him by surprise as she turned them over, landing with her body sprawled over him. Castle's eyes were wide with shock as he looked into Kate's own predatory gaze as she sat up, straddling him, still intimately connected with him, and began to move her hips, getting faster and faster as she reached up to cup her own breasts, smiling once she realized how his gaze was riveted to her chest. She tweaked her nipples between her fingers, moaning as she rode him, grinning naughtily as she felt him squeeze her hips tighter, guiding her down harder on his cock. Kate groaned, reaching down with one hand to massage her clit, only to have it pushed out of the way by Castle's, his own hand rubbing tight circles on the small bundle of nerves. Kate gasped, her hips jerking slightly as she felt herself getting closer and closer to the edge.

"Castle," she gasped, "I'm so close, but I need you…oh, God…I need you to be there with me. _Please tell me that you're close_."

Castle nodded, his eyes squeezing shut. "Yes," he growled, "I'm close. Just let go, Kate. Let go and I'll be right there with you. Just. Let. Go."

Kate nodded, riding him faster as Castle's fingers quickened, sending her quickly over the edge. Castle followed just seconds later, emptying himself into her, groaning as he pumped slowly into her wet heat. Kate collapsed on top of him, her lips attached to his neck as she came down from her high.

Once their breathing was back to _relatively _normal, Kate turned to slide off of him, reaching down for the blankets, feeling a sudden chill. Castle helped her pull the blankets over their cooling bodies, before reaching down and kissing her lips.

"That was amazing," he breathed into her mouth. Kate mumbled in agreement, feeling her eyelids already growing heavy. Castle chuckled, kissing her again, before reaching behind him to turn off his bedside lamp. "Goodnight, Kate," he whispered into her hair as she snuggled into him.

Kate smiled sleepily. "Goodnight, Castle," she sighed.

**How was that?**


	25. Chapter 24

**I'm back! My hard drive had to be replaced so everything I'd written was erased! And I had to wait to get my computer back and pay $80 for it! But I'm back and I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty Four

Martha and Sr. there at the crack of dawn, as promised. Castle had long since given them their own key and so they let themselves in, doting paper bags with fresh bagels and cup holders filled with coffee. Martha set the coffee down on the counter before making her way towards her son's room. "Richard! Katherine! Rise and shine, you too! You have to play Santa today!"

Kate groaned, burying her face into the crook of Castle's neck, smiling slightly as she felt him hold her tighter. "So your mom's a morning person?" she murmured into his neck.

"How could you tell?" Castle retorted. Kate snorted and kissed his neck, trailing her lips over his jaw and towards his lips. Castle moaned into her mouth when it finally reached his. Kate pulled back with a sleepy smile.

"Good morning," she greeted, her voice still scratchy with sleep.

"Mm," Castle replied, grinning, "g'morning." He leaned in for another kiss, surprising Kate as he turned her over, and making her gasp. Kate's legs automatically wrapped around his waist, even as she pulled her head away from his.

"No," she said, shaking her head firmly. "Castle, your parents are right outside and Lanie's going to be here any second to go sho—oh my God." Castle's lips on her breast distracted her from her point and her hips automatically lifted into his. Castle grinned victoriously.

"You were saying?" Castle asked, a self-satisfied smile on his face.

Kate groaned. "We don't have time," she grunted, as Castle's lips got lower. She made no moves to stop him, however. "I still have to take a shower and get dressed and—"

"Shower?" Castle asked, looking up from his place next to Kate's bellybutton. "Why didn't you say so?" In a matter of seconds, he was up and pulling Kate with him, practically slinging her, effortlessly, over his shoulder. Kate slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from calling out as he carried her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them and lowering her to lean against it. Kate glared up at him, but Castle disregarded it as he leaned in, capturing her lips and doing that thing with his tongue that she absolutely _loves_. Kate's eyes widened, slightly, before she gave in, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and allowing him to lead her to the shower, stumbling over his feet as he backed up, not even releasing him long enough to turn the shower on. Castle reached blindly for the handle, turning it and allowing the perfectly warm water to run over them.

When they were completely soaked, Castle detached his lips from Kate's, turning her around and reaching for the shampoo. Lathering his hands up with it, he began massaging Kate's scalp, covering her head with the soapy substance, making Kate sigh as his gentle hands ran through her hair. Castle grinned when he heard her slight moans and sighs as he rinsed her hair, running his hands through the long, wet strands. When there was no longer any shampoo in her hair, Castle's hands began making their way down her body.

Moving her hair to one shoulder, he leaned down, kissing her neck and making her moan as he rubbed his erection against her ass. Kate groaned as she rubbed back against him, feeling him shiver at the intimate contact. Bracing herself on her hands against the tile wall, Kate moved her ass in a circle, feeling his erection harden against her. She sighed, leaning her head in between her hands. Taking a deep breath, she turned, sending Castle a smoky look over her shoulder. He swallowed hard, his eyes darkening as he took hold of her hips. Positioning himself at her entrance, he locked eyes with her, asking her silently if she was ready. Kate nodded, her green eyes darkened to near brown, and Castle pushed into her, making her bite her lip to keep quiet. Castle growled low in his throat before beginning to pump in and out of her.

Kate moaned at the feeling of his hardness rubbing against her clit with every stroke, leaning more forward and placing all of her weight on her forearms on the wall, her breasts shaking with every movement and rubbing against the cool tile, making her gasp out at the feeling. One of Castle's hands moved from her hip to the small bundle of nerves between her legs and he rubbed tiny, tight circles over it as he continued to pump into her, making Kate whimper in lust.

Kate could feel herself getting closer and closer to the edge, the effort to hold herself up becoming almost too much. As if he could sense this, Castle reached forward, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her to an almost standing position, making her gasp out at the change in penetration. He was hitting a spot so deep inside her, she thought it impossible. Castle reached around, latching onto her lips as he continued to move inside of her. Kate moaned into his mouth, reaching to wrap one arm around his neck as she moved her opposite hand down to rub against her clit. In retaliation, Castle cupped her breast with his free hand, squeezing her nipple between his fingers and making Kate's back arch. The combination of all these different sensations going on at once was enough to push her over the edge, with Castle not far behind, the effort to hold them both up almost too much for him to bear.

But he did it, he leaned back against the tile, shivering against the cold and kept his arms wrapped around her waist, kissing her neck softly. When they finally came back down to Earth, Kate threw him a dazzling smile over her shoulder and handed him the body wash.

"Help me clean up," she said, grinning.

X_X

Kate walked out of the bedroom twenty minutes later, sporting her bathrobe and a towel-wrapped head. She smiled at Martha, trying to fight off a blush.

"Good morning," she greeted, brightly.

"There you are!" Martha replied, smiling, as she welcomed Kate into the kitchen. "We've been wondering what you kids were doing all this time!"

Kate felt her cheeks tinge pink. "Um, well I had to take a shower and brush my teeth and all that, you know. Castle, too. He's taking his right now, actually." Kate could swear she saw Martha's face fall but the bright smile barely even wavered.

"Alright, then," Martha said, picking up a Styrofoam cup and handing it over to Kate. "Well, we brought coffee, and there are some bagels in that bag there." She pointed to the large paper bag on the counter. "But perhaps you'd like to get dressed first?"

Kate nodded, taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee. "Yes," she said, "let me just go do that. Do you want me to wake up Alexis, as well?"

Martha shook her head. "Let the girl sleep. It's far too early for her to be getting up, especially since she needs her rest for all the fun we're going to have today!"

"We're taking her to the Bronx Zoo," Sr. clarified. "Button loves the zoo more than Ricky loves the museum."

"Castle likes the museum? He didn't tell me that…"

"Oh, well perhaps he's embarrassed," Martha said. "I mean, to be such a grown man and act like such a child in a place of learning…" she shook her head.

Kate chuckled. "Maybe that's it," she said. But it bothered her, for some reason. Because if she didn't know this tiny detail—that may be very important to him—what else didn't she know about him?

She didn't have time to dwell on that, however, as there was a knock on the door. Putting down her coffee, she made her way over to it, looking through the peephole and laughing as she pulled open the door, Lanie practically toppling onto her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, laughing. "I'm sorry, Lanie; I don't like you like that."

"Don't be a smart ass," Lanie grumbled. "It's too early for that. I need coffee…NOW."

"Right this way," Kate joked, leading her friend towards the kitchen and trying to push all of her troubles to the back of her mind.

**Okay, so on a scale of Fifty Shades to Harlequin, how was that love scene? REVIEW!**

**Also, please check out hazel_ventura on Twitter! She's awesome!**


	26. Chapter 25

**Update!**

Chapter Twenty Five

Lanie and Kate's day of shopping lasted all the way until about four pm, at which time the girls entered the loft, arms laden with bags and legs practically made of jelly as they fell through the door.

"Food," Lanie mumbled into her arms as she sat herself down at the counter and lay her head down.

"Make it yourself," Kate replied, flopping down on the couch next to her own pile of bags. Thirty three stores and most of her savings resulted in the biggest shopping spree she'd ever been on.

It was both exhilarating and exhausting! She just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the weekend.

No such luck, however, as the door opened and a little flash of red raced towards her, landing on top of her with a giggle. Kate's eye creaked open and she managed a sleepy smile for the little girl in front of her, wearing a knit panda cap and a zebra scarf.

"Hey, Lex," she greeted. "Did you have a good time at the Zoo with Gram and Pop?" Alexis nodded, her blue eyes sparkling in excitement.

"We saw a hippota-a hipo-a hippopanonamus!" she said, proudly, making Kate smile.

"A _hippopotamus_?" Kate gasped, "That's awesome! Did you say thank you?" Alexis's eyes widened and she ran back to her grandparents.

"Thank you!" she shouted as Rick Sr. lifted her into his arms and kissed her cheeks.

"No problem, Button," he said, warmly. "You just let us know anytime you wanna go back and we'll take you there! Okay?" Alexis nodded, giggling as she received more kisses from her grandfather, before being passed over to her grandmother, who hugged her tight and nuzzled her nose.

"My little angel," Martha said, adoringly. "You be good for Kate and Lanie, now; they're very tired after their shopping trip."

"Nap?" Alexis asked, looking over at Lanie, who was fighting to stay awake.

"That would be best. Let me just talk to Kate first, okay? Richard, Sweetheart, will you help her out of her coat and hat please?" Martha asked, handing the toddler to her husband. Rick nodded, taking the little girl and sitting her down on the counter while Martha made her way over to Kate, who immediately sat up, making room for her future mother-in-law.

"What's up?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Martha took a deep breath. "Well," she started, "today, while we were looking at all the baby monkeys playing with their parents, Alexis asked me a very complicated question."

"Complicated how?" Kate asked. "She's two years old."

"Yes, well, I think we both know how intelligent Alexis is for her age, don't we?" Martha said and Kate nodded in agreement.

"You're right," she said, "sorry. So, what did she ask?"

Martha took another deep breath. "She asked," she said, "if you were her mother." Kate's eyes widened at that and her mouth gaped open. "I know," she said at the shocked expression, "and I reacted the same way, but mostly because I just didn't know what to tell her. Your relationship with Richard is just so new and you probably haven't talked about this yet—"

"No, we have," Kate interrupted. "I mean, well not in so many words, but there _is _an understanding that I'm the mother figure in her life now, so…" she shook her head, "but I didn't think she'd be calling me _Mommy_. Not so soon, anyway. Like you said, Castle and I…we just met and I don't know if I want to have her getting that attached to me if things don't work out and I have to leave…"

"Sweetheart," Martha said, laying a soothing hand on her arm, "let me let you in on a little secret; that girl is going to get attached to you no matter _what_ she calls you; just like _you'll_ grow attached to her, no matter what. And I know my son, as well; he won't keep her away from you, or vice versa, if things don't work out between you two. Not if you really care about her. He's a softy like that."

Kate chuckled. "He is, isn't he?" Martha nodded, grinning. "Okay, well I'll have this talk with him when he gets home and we'll find out what he wants to do."

Martha nodded. "Sounds good," she agreed. "And until then, it looks like you could all use a good nap. You might want to get your friend to a horizontal surface before she falls off her stool, too." Kate nodded, smiling.

"Most definitely," she agreed. "Thank you, Martha. We'll see you later."

"Of course," Martha replied, kissing Kate's head, before standing and making her way to join her husband in the foyer. "Have a nice day, Katherine." She leaned down and kissed her granddaughter's cheek. "Goodbye, Sweet Angel," she said, affectionately. "Goodbye, Lanie!" she shouted, causing Lanie to sit up, brown eyes wide open.

"I'm awake," she mumbled, causing Martha to chuckle and shake her head as she led her husband out the door. She waved once more before closing the door behind them. Kate waved back before standing and walking into the kitchen, picking up Alexis and settling her on her hip.

"You hungry?" she asked the toddler, who nodded. Kate pulled out a cuppy filled with juice and a box of crackers, setting the girl at the table with her snack and returning to the kitchen to make herself and her friends something to eat. She prepared two quick fruit salads, handing one to Lanie, who leaned her head on her hand as she ate. Kate rolled her eyes at her and made her way to sit with Alexis, listening to the tot babble on about all the animals she saw at the Zoo, desperately trying to stay awake for the girl's sake.

When they were all finished eating, Kate placed their bowls into the sink and cleared up, before picking up Alexis again and dragging Lanie upstairs to lie in her room. The girls lay side by side, with Alexis snuggled between them, a blanket thrown above their clothed bodies. They'd barely kicked off their shoes before climbing in and closing their eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

X_X

Two hours later, Castle entered the loft, carrying a single shopping bag from Tiffany's. Everything else that he'd bought—for Alexis, his parents, his friends, and Kate—had been brought to his storage container in the basement. The only thing he had left was the one thing that he didn't want to risk losing; Kate's gift.

He's spent over an hour in the high-priced jewelry store looking for the perfect Christmas gift for her and when he'd finally found it, he'd offered to pay almost double the price if they would engrave it, gift wrap it, and allow him to attach a note to it. They did and now he had the perfect gift.

The first thing he saw entering the loft were the two piles of shopping bags, both in the front hall and next to the living room couch. The next thing he noticed was his daughter's coat and her scarf and hat that his parents had no doubt bought for her at the zoo. He saw all this and yet no fiancée or daughter. Making his way into the room he now shared with Kate, he saw that they weren't there, either. He furrowed his brow and shrugged, walking into his study and opening the safe nestled behind the painting he kept on the wall behind his desk, placing the bright blue Tiffany's box inside and locking it. He knew that, eventually, he would have to give Kate the code to the safe and let her know where it was, but he figured it wouldn't be a big issue until _after _Christmas had already passed.

When the painting was back in place, he made his way upstairs, wondering if perhaps Kate had put Alexis down for a nap and then settled into her own room to sleep off the day she'd had.

He was half right. When he saw that there was nobody in Alexis's room, he moved on to Kate's, where he smiled upon finding his fiancée snuggled up to her friend and his—_their_ daughter. The girls were all tangled up under the blanket, their arms surrounding each other and the little girl.

They looked absolutely adorable…and incredibly exhausted. Castle pondered how long they'd been there but decided that it didn't matter. He'd allow them to sleep as he made dinner. But first…

He pulled out his PA, snapping about a dozen photos before exiting the room, silently, allowing them to keep napping in peace, unable to wipe the adoring smile off his face.

**REVIEWS please! I really want to know what you think of this one!**


	27. Chapter 26

**So, I'm at school and my class starts in less than an hour so this is going to most likely be very quick but I hope that you still enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty Six

Lanie and Kate emerged from the bedroom less than an hour after Castle had gotten home. Alexis was situated on Kate's hip, her head lolling against Kate's shoulder while one tiny fist rubbed at her eye. All three girls were exhausted from their eventful days, but Kate caught a whiff of something that might change them.

Making their way downstairs, they found Castle standing at the stove in the kitchen, pulling out some recently heated leftovers. He smiled when he saw them entering.

"Good evening, ladies," he greeted, waving at them. Lanie, who still looked ready to pass back out, grumbled something in return as she made a beeline for the coffee machine, pouring herself a cup.

"She's not good at waking up," Kate explained for her, making her way over to Castle and handing over his—their?—daughter. She smirked when Castle stole a kiss at the same time, before tucking Alexis against his chest.

"That's alright," he said, "you guys hungry?" he asked.

Kate nodded. "Starving," she said. "What did you make?"

"Some leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, and veggies. I'm warming up some biscuits and gravy too. Lanie," he turned to their friend, "do you want to stay for dinner?"

Lanie shook her head, a bit more awake after the coffee. "Nah," she said, "I'm gonna get going. Javi's making dinner tonight and my mother's coming over to go over the invitations for the wedding." She rolled her eyes. "And speaking of," she looked straight at Kate. "Don't forget your fitting next week. And Baby Castle's, too."

"Fitting?" Castle asked, confused.

"I'm Lanie's MOH," Kate informed him, "and she would like Alexis to be her flower girl; is that alright?"

"Of course!" Castle replied, grinning. "Pumpkin would look adorable in a little white dress!"

"Lavender," Lanie corrected. "I'm not the traditionalist type."

Castle nodded. "Still," he said, "she would look adorable and I'm sure Alexis would be honored. Right, Pumpkin?" Alexis smiled sleepily and nodded. "When's the wedding, anyway?"

"June 24th," Lanie said, nodding decisively. "The day after my 19th birthday."

Castle nodded. "We'll definitely be there," he said.

Lanie put her hand on her hip. "Who says _you're _invited?" she teased. "I only need the use of your girl and your spawn. I don't need _you."_

Castle's eyes widened as he gaped at her and Kate chuckled. "Well, I _never_!" he huffed, turning his nose up. Lanie and Kate laughed and Kate went over to hug her friend goodbye.

"See you later, Lane," she said, kissing her cheek.

"Bye, girl," Lanie replied, still chuckling. "Bye, Alexis," she cooed, waving at the toddler. Alexis waved back.

"Goodbye, Lanie," Castle said, pointedly as Lanie gathered her things, purposefully ignoring him.

"Mmhmm," Lanie said, turning up her nose as she made her way to the door. Before she closed it behind him, however, she gave him a grin and a wink. "Seeya, Writer Boy," she said, before exiting. Castle just shook his head and chuckled to himself, serving up three plates of hot food. Alexis now sat on the counter in front of him, nibbling on a biscuit.

Kate watched her with a smile on her face before her talk with Martha suddenly came to mind.

"Hey, Castle," she said, suddenly, "I think we need to talk. In _private._"

Castle noticed her serious look and nodded, taking Alexis and putting her in her high chair with her food, cut up into small bites, and a juice box. "Eat all your peas, Pumpkin," Castle told her and she pouted, looking down at the green vegetables on her plate and sticking out her tongue.

Castle smiled adoringly at her as he followed Kate out of the room.

"So, what is it?" he asked once they were safely in his office, where they could watch Alexis through the bookshelf.

"Well," Kate said, "apparently Alexis asked your mother a question today and…well, I really think it's something we should talk about."

Castle's face paled. "Did she ask where babies come from?" he asked.

Kate shook her head. "No," she said. "She asked…she asked if…" she took a deep breath, "she asked if I was her mommy."

Castle's eyes widened. "_Oh_," he said, "this is a little more awkward than the baby question, isn't it?"

Kate nodded. "I think so."

Castle took a deep breath, before speaking. "Would you _mind_?" he asked.

"What?" Kate said, her eyes widening.

"If Alexis called you her mother, or mommy, or whatever; would you mind?" Castle asked.

"Would _you_?" Kate retorted.

"If Alexis called me Mommy?" Castle asked, frowning. "I'd be a little concerned that she thought I looked like a girl, but I could roll with it."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You are such a child," she huffed, unable to hide her grin. "_No._ Would you mind if Alexis called _me_ Mommy?"

Castle shook his head. "Not at all," he replied. "You're pretty much her mother, already; you're going to be her stepmother in less than a year now, and it's not like she has anybody else, right? Besides, she probably already thinks you're her mother, anyway; she just needs the confirmation. Now, the true question is: do you _want _to be Alexis's mother?"

Kate turned away, thinking about it for a moment. She was only eighteen years old; she'd known this kid less than a week, but…she could already feel herself growing protective and loving over her, in the way she imagined a mother might. She took a deep breath and nodded firmly. "Yes," she said, looking up at Castle. "I really do."

Castle grinned. "Then you _are _her mother," he confirmed.

Kate smiled, happily, before frowning again. "Just one thing," she said.

"What?" Castle asked.

"If things…if _this_," she motioned between them, "doesn't work out, I want to still be in her life; I don't want you to keep me away just because she's not mine, _biologically._ Okay?"

Castle nodded. "Of course," he said. "I would never do that; to you _or _Alexis. That kid worships the ground you walk on."

Kate's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, smiling softly. Castle nodded.

"Since the day you asked her for her autograph," he confirmed. "She's crazy about you, Kate. Just like her father." Kate blushed at that, looking away. Castle tucked one finger under her chin, pulling her to look into his eyes, before he laid a soft kiss on her lips.

When they pulled back, they were both smiling. "Now let's go get dinner," he said, smiling as he led her towards the door.

When they opened it, both sets of eyes widened at the scene before them. Alexis was frozen with her spoon in her hand, filled with peas. One hand was holding down the spoon part, getting ready to launch them towards the garbage can at the other end of the room. From the green splats on the wall and counter, Castle and Kate could tell that she had been at it for a while and her aim wasn't exactly the best. Alexis's eyes were wide as she regarded her shocked parents and she slowly turned the spoonful of peas towards her mouth and shoved them in, grimacing.

Kate took a deep breath, sighing, "What did I get myself in to?"

**Gotta head to class!**


	28. Chapter 27

**Update!**

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next week seemed to go more quickly than Kate expected and before she or Alexis knew it, they were standing in the dressing room at David's Bridal in Times Square. The store was packed with young women all bustling around with their mothers, attempting to get the best deals on their dresses. Lanie had, thankfully, called ahead and made an appointment for their fitting. Her mother, Denise, was there, as was Lanie's older sister, Maya, who would be her only bridesmaid, other than Kate. They were all standing there, waiting for their dresses to come out. Alexis was looking at herself in the mirror, making faces and giggling. Kate smiled, able to see Castle in every single giggle.

"Mommy, look!" Alexis called. Kate took a deep breath at the name rolling off the little girl's tongue. After their little talk the week before, she and Castle had asked if Alexis would rather call Kate Mommy and she had agreed immediately, saying the word every single chance she got. Kate's heart swelled every time she heard it and she always just wanted to pick her up and hold her tightly, never letting her go. Instead, she just smiled and watched as Alexis did a pirouette, giggling when she lost her balance and fell on her butt. Kate chuckled, her face practically splitting in two as she regarded her new daughter.

"Oh, she's adorable, Katherine," Denise said, coming up next to her. Kate nodded, smiling.

"Yeah," she said, "she is."

"I remember when you and Delaney were that little, pretending to be princesses and ballerinas. Where _does _the time go?" she sighed, looking at her daughter, who was greeting the bridal shop worker, taking her dress and following her into the back room.

Kate smiled and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, her eyes still on the little girl.

"Katherine Beckett? Alexis Castle?" a voice called out. Kate followed the sound and raised her hand.

"Over here," she said, before turning back to Alexis. "Lex, c'mon, Sweetie; time to try on our pretty dresses." Alexis smiled and raced over to her mother, jumping into Kate's arms. Kate caught her, laughing and nuzzled her nose, settling her on her hip as they followed the woman who'd called their names.

The woman led them to a small room, where their dresses were hanging by hooks on the wall. One of the walls was covered by a floor-length mirror. Alexis made faces in this one, too, making Kate chuckle as she took down the smaller dress, instructing Alexis to take off her dress so that they could get her changed into her flower girl one. Alexis did as told and soon was looking at herself in the mirror, in a pretty lavender dress that was a bit too long, but looked wonderful still. It had capped sleeves and a darker purple bow around the center, the skirt of the dress puffed out in a princess style that Alexis had fun twirling and curtsying in.

"Look, Mommy!" she exclaimed. "I'm a princess!" Kate chuckled and nodded.

"You certainly are!" she cooed, getting into her own dress. It was the shade of Alexis's ribbon and only went down to her knees, with a lighter ribbon that was longer than the dress and a halter top, with a white collar. It wasn't the most attractive dress Kate had ever seen, but it was better than Maya's bridesmaids dresses (pink and lime green do _not_ make a good combination). Kate spun in her dress, admiring the way it made her legs look just a little bit longer. She wondered if Maya's would be exactly the same or be a different style. Kate knew that Lanie was trying to stick with a purple theme for the wedding, but she'd always talked about getting payback on Maya after she made her wear that God-awful taffeta and lace monstrosity at her wedding. Kate couldn't wait to see _that._

Grabbing her PA and her daughter's hand, Kate made her way out to the main dressing room, showcasing her MOH dress.

"That looks _gorgeous_ on you, Katherine!" Denise gushed.

"Thank you, Aunt Denise," Kate said, smiling.

"You're very welcome," Denise said, before looking down at the redhead. "And you look positively _radiant_, Alexis!" she cooed. Alexis blushed, suddenly shy as she hid her face in her mother's side.

"Alexis," Kate urged, "what do you say to Mrs. Parish?"

"Thank you," Alexis mumbled, not removing her face from Kate's thigh. Kate ran a hand through her hair, smiling down at her, lovingly.

"Where's Maya?" Lanie said, causing both Kate and Denise to look up at her entrance. Tears immediately flooded Kate's eyes as she watched her best friend come out, looking like a vision in her princess skirt, strapless-bodice, lavender wedding dress, the ribbon cinched tightly around her waist. She let out a gasp.

"Oh, Lanie…" she sighed, covering her mouth with one hand. Lanie's eyes widened.

"What?" she said, smoothing down the skirt, "Does it look okay?"

"It looks _perfect_, Baby," Denise sighed, rushing forward to hug her daughter. She pulled her in tight, before pulling back and kissing her cheek. "Javier is going to _love _it," she said.

Lanie blushed. "You think so?" she asked, smiling brightly. Denise nodded.

"What man wouldn't?" Kate said, stepping up to hug her best friend. "You look _hot_, Lane."

Lanie grinned. "You know it!" she said, chuckling. She looked over at Alexis and smiled. "And Baby Castle looks _precious_! Look at you, Baby Girl! You're just like a little princess!"

Alexis's whole face went red and she buried it back into Kate's side. Kate nudged her again and she thanked Lanie quietly. Lanie chuckled, before turning to her mother.

"Mama, where's Maya?" she asked.

"Mable is probably still changing, Delaney," Denise said, "give her some time." Lanie scrunched up her nose at the use of her given name.

"Can't you just call me _Lanie_, like everyone else?" she asked.

"What's wrong with Delaney?" Denise asked, frowning.

"Other than the fact that I _hate_ it?" Lanie asked, frowning. "It's just so…strange. Why couldn't you give me a _normal _name, like Elizabeth or Isabella or something?"

"You're named after your great-grandmother," Denise told her, "and your sister is named after your aunt, who raised me; I don't understand why you don't like those names."

"Preferences, Mama," Lanie sighed, "purely preferential. Now, where in the hell is Maya? MAYA! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!"

"Language, Delaney!" Denise scolded. "We have a child here!"

"Sorry," Lanie mumbled, glancing apologetically at Kate, who had her hands over Alexis's ears. Kate shook her head and mouthed, 'it's okay.' Lanie looked towards the door, leading towards her sister's private room, trying to hold back the laughter as Maya appeared.

Unlike Kate's dress, Maya's was an empire-waist, long-sleeve, scoop neck number with a giant flower at her shoulder and an even larger, light purple bow at her waist. The dress was a plum color—except for the flower, which was lavender—and looked ridiculous with all the added decoration. Denise and Kate had to hold back their laughter and Lanie shoved her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud (though she did snicker). Alexis, however, had no qualms about bursting out laughing, her hands holding her tummy as she laughed, leaning against Kate for support. The little girl's laughs triggered their own and soon all three women were leaning against each other for support, all quivering with mirth.

"I'm gonna kill you," Maya growled, turning on her heel and stomping back into the dressing room, revealing the bright green lace that tied the back of the bodice, causing the girls to laugh even harder.

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